Ukraine Says Starlink Speeds Restored After SpaceX Throttling Over Drone Strikes

Starlink restored after limits

Ukraine said Starlink satellite access was fully back after a week of disruption, with its Defense Ministry saying monitoring systems recorded the restoration of Starlink-Starshield performance and that connection remained stable at movement speeds above 400 km/h. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the early warning system had resumed after talks with U.S. officials, and Ukraine’s Defense Minister Yevhen Khmara said, "This is another example of how direct dialogue and the firm position of the President of Ukraine at the highest level can deliver results." Ukraine said the speed limits on Starshield and Starlink-supported networks endangered Ukrainians by inhibiting the military’s offensive and defensive capabilities in Russia-controlled Ukrainian territory.

Russia launched attacks in the last two weeks, including a deadly attack on an apartment building in Zaporizhzhia that killed 20 people, including three children, according to Ukrainian officials. The Trump administration denied ordering a slowdown in Starshield and Starlink-supported networks, with administration officials pointing to Elon Musk’s SpaceX for the change.

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Musk, Trump, and Ukraine trade blame

Elon Musk said on Saturday that SpaceX throttled Starlink and Starshield speeds in Ukraine, writing, "Ukraine military violated Starlink terms of service and used it for offensive drone strikes to kill people."

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Musk also maintained that Starshield is controlled by the U.S. government, saying, "Starshield, a different system, is controlled by the US government."

Ukraine’s defence minister Yevhenii Khmara said speeds of more than 400km/h were now possible on the network, and he said the result was "above all important for our front, for our soldiers, for the operation of drones, for logistics and for communications."

Trump denied ordering the slowdown, telling reporters on Oct 16, "I didn't do that. No, we didn't do that at all," and he said the infrastructure was "probably functional."

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Ukraine said the restrictions emerged during a broader diplomatic row between Trump and Zelensky over Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil infrastructure, while Trump denied threatening to withdraw intelligence sharing if the strikes did not stop.

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Front-line stakes and ongoing fighting

Ukraine said the restoration mattered for front-line logistics and communications, and it linked the weeklong disruption to speed limits that it said hampered drone operations. Russia’s ministry of defence wrote on Telegram that its air defences shot down 616 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones, striking regions across the country including Russian-annexed Crimea, and Sergey Aksyonov said restrictions on electricity and water were put in place because of power cuts caused by the drone strike. Ukrainian authorities said they struck a missile component manufacturer, a chemical plant and an aircraft at a military airfield inside Russia in the past 24 hours, while they said Russia carried out 88 air strikes using 309 glide bombs and 10,270 kamikaze drones on Friday.

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said monitoring systems officially recorded the restoration of Starlink-Starshield performance, and it said connection remained stable at movement speeds above 400 km/h. The dispute over who ordered the interruptions persisted as Trump said he would speak with Musk if the disruption continued, while a bipartisan group of U.S. senators requested that the independent inspector general at the Pentagon launch an official probe into the Starlink disruptions.

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