Ukraine says restrictions on Starlink speed have been lifted

Daryna Krasnolutska, Bloomberg News on Oct 24, 2026

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Ukraine said limits on the speed of its SpaceX Starlink terminal connections had been lifted in overnight testing, a move that may ease the latest tensions between Kyiv and Washington.

“The Defense Ministry’s monitoring systems are seeing the recovery of Starlink/Starshield speed; the connections are stable,” Defense Minister Yevhenii Khmara said on Saturday.

“It is another example when direct dialogue and the Ukrainian president’s firm stance at the highest level deliver results. And this result is important first and foremost for our front lines, our military, drone operations, logistics and communications,” Khmara told reporters.

Recent reduced operating speeds for Starshield, the military-grade version of Starlink, caught Ukrainian troops off guard, disrupting some missions and undermining defense capabilities against Russian jet-powered drone barrages. Ukraine said it got no explanation from the U.S. for the change, and that the throttling seemed deliberate.

The defense ministry on Saturday said Starshield was again working at speeds above 400 kilometers (248 miles) per hour after having been limited to about 161 kilometers (100 miles) in recent days.

SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk accused Ukraine of violating its terms of service by using the system for offensive drone strikes, saying the company closed that “loophole” last week.

“Starlink remains critical to the defense of Ukraine, as it is the only system that cannot be jammed or blown up, at least for now,” he wrote Saturday in a post on X. “Were Starlink to be turned off, the Ukrainian front line would collapse immediately. This is NOT a threat, it is simply a statement of fact.”

Musk added that the Starshield system is controlled by the U.S. government. “What they decide to do is up to them,” he said.

Relations between Ukraine and the U.S. reached a new low after U.S. President Donald Trump cut a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin this month under which Washington would refrain from further tightening sanctions on Russia in exchange for Moscow supplying limited volumes of diesel to the global market to curb rising prices.

Speaking to Bloomberg News last weekend, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Trump of trying to pressure Kyiv into surrendering to Moscow. He also said the U.S. was delaying deliveries of crucial Patriot air defense interceptors used to defend Ukraine’s cities. The U.S. also failed to share early warning alerts about Russian ballistic missiles attacking Ukraine several times, he said.

Trump said he didn’t order limits of speed for Starlink operation, but criticized Zelenskyy, saying the Ukrainian is more difficult to deal with than Putin.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Trump had spoken to Musk, asking that he end restrictions on Starlink operations in Ukraine.

Separately, Ukraine kept up its program of attacks deep within Russian territory, claiming a strike overnight on the Tolyattikauchuk petrochemical facility in Tolyatti in the Samara region, about 1,338 kilometers (830 miles) northeast of Kyiv.

Another target was Oryol, closer to the Ukrainian border, where Kyiv’s military claimed a strike on the main production building of Proton-Electrotex JSC, saying the facility makes components for cruise and ballistic missiles.

Three people were killed and eight hospitalized after a missile strike on a plant in Oryol on Friday, the region’s governor said, without saying what was hit.

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(With assistance from Kollen Post.)