Zelenskyy Announces Full Starlink Speed Restoration for Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed on Saturday that military access to Starlink satellite communications has returned to pre-restriction levels, ending a ten-day period of limited service. The announcement follows a sudden imposition of speed caps that disrupted critical defense operations across the front lines.

During the freeze, data throughput was limited to 160km/h, a constraint that Ukrainian officials said caused several combat missions to fail. The reduced bandwidth hindered the military's ability to intercept Russian attack drones and forced the cancellation of operations targeting assets behind enemy lines. Additionally, the limitation removed advance warning systems for incoming ballistic missile strikes, leaving units vulnerable to surprise attacks.

The restriction coincided with President Donald Trump's announcement of a US deal to purchase Russian diesel. While Trump initially suggested the cut in intelligence sharing was not his doing, he later expressed willingness to intervene directly. On Friday, he stated that if problems persisted, he would get them straightened out, describing SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk as very brilliant and very good. Trump also suggested he might tell Musk to stop messing around with Ukraine's access.

The dispute prompted public exchanges between US and Ukrainian leaders. Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the president by stating that the administration does not run SpaceX or Starshield, implying that decision-making rests with the company's leadership. Musk countered that the systems are owned and controlled by the US government, asserting that speed limits are determined by the military and the president. Vice-president JD Vance supported Musk's position, noting the billionaire did not want to mediate the conflict without explicit government direction.

Zelenskyy assigned responsibility to both parties, describing the event as a planned operation because Starshield terminals in European Union countries remained unaffected. He warned that the decision would result in human losses but thanked US allies for the resolution. In his Telegram address, he specified that speeds were sufficient for frontline logistics and defending against jet-powered Shahed drones by Saturday morning.

The situation remained ambiguous earlier in the week. On Thursday, Trump claimed the service was fully restored, yet a European official told the Associated Press that it was not fully functioning. The final confirmation from Kyiv arrived only after the overnight restoration process was completed, marking the end of the operational uncertainty that had plagued Ukrainian command structures for ten days.