Ukraine Says Starlink Slowdown Hit Drone Operations

Update: Musk says SpaceX throttled Starlink and accuses Ukraine of violating its terms

Updated 01:11 UTC, Oct. 25, 2026. Elon Musk said on Saturday that his company SpaceX had throttled the Starlink satellite internet service in Ukraine, the Associated Press reported. The statement changed the position recorded in the updates below, in which neither Musk nor the United States government had acknowledged responsibility for imposing the restrictions. "Ukraine military violated Starlink terms of service and used it for offensive drone strikes to kill people. That loophole was closed last week," Musk said on X, according to Reuters. The Associated Press reported a second sentence from Musk in the same statement: "Using Starlink, a civilian commercial service, for offensive drone strikes to kill people has never been allowed, nor should it be."

Ukrainian presidential adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov said on the Telegram app that Ukraine is "physically unable" to use Starlink for long and medium range attack drone operations, Reuters reported. Beskrestnov said Ukraine does not rely on the systems for long range drone operations on Russian territory, including attacks on refineries, and that such operations run at speeds no higher than 70 to 90 kilometres per hour, Reuters reported. Ukraine's general staff and defence ministry did not immediately comment on Musk's statement, Reuters reported. Musk's statement came hours after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Starlink and Starshield speeds had been restored to the level Ukraine needs, as recorded in the update below.

Update: Ukraine says Starlink speed limits have been lifted

Updated 11:51 UTC, Oct. 24, 2026. Ukraine's defence minister said on Saturday that the Starlink satellite system and its military version, Starshield, are operating again at speeds over 400 kilometres per hour, after more than a week of restrictions that slowed connections and disrupted military operations, Reuters reported. "The Ministry of Defence's monitoring systems are recording a return to normal speed for Starlink/Starshield. We are recording a speed of over 400 kph. The connection is stable," Defence Minister Evhenii Khmara told reporters. The defence ministry said its monitoring systems had previously recorded disruptions and that speed metrics have now returned to normal. The ministry did not say whether service had been fully restored, Reuters reported.

The Associated Press reported that Ukraine's military has regained full use of Starlink links for its drones and other fast-moving equipment. Khmara credited direct dialogue and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's diplomacy with Washington, and said the outcome mattered most for the front, for the military, and for the work of drones, logistics and communications, AP reported. The restrictions, first reported on October 14, had cut connection speeds to about 160 kph or less, undermined Ukraine's ability to intercept Russian attack drones and disrupted frontline communications, Ukrainian officials said. Zelenskyy said on Friday that Ukraine was still experiencing the limits, a day before the restoration was announced. Neither SpaceX chief Elon Musk nor the United States government has acknowledged responsibility for restricting the service, and Reuters has reported that the order to throttle Starshield came from inside the White House.

Update: Trump says he will get any Starlink problem straightened out

Updated 19:47 UTC, Oct. 23, 2026. President Donald Trump said at the White House on Friday that if there is still a problem with access to Starlink systems in Ukraine, he will get it straightened out, Reuters reported. Trump said he had not spoken to SpaceX chief Elon Musk about the matter, but would speak to him if access was not fixed. "Elon will never do anything wrong. I know him very well. He is a fair person," Trump said. Ukrainian officials said on Friday that the speed restrictions remain in place, caps that have applied since October 13 and that disrupt connections for drones flying faster than 160 kilometers per hour. Denys Sienik of the Ukrainian embassy in the United States wrote on X that, as of today, nothing has changed, and that Ukraine's defenders are still waiting for the capabilities they need.

Update: Ukraine says Starshield limits are still in place

Updated 10:17 UTC, Oct. 23, 2026. Ukrainian officials said on Friday morning that restrictions on Starshield, the military grade version of Starlink, remain in place, a day after President Donald Trump said Elon Musk had restored Ukraine's access, CNN reported. Serhiy Beskrestnov, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, said Ukraine is not observing any lifting of the restrictions. He said isolated cases where Starlink operates slightly faster are likely due to the SpaceX algorithm or specific usage conditions, rather than a lifting of the restrictions.

A Ukrainian Defense Ministry source told CNN there is currently no confirmation that the restrictions have been lifted, and that instances of signal loss are still being observed for military ordnance travelling above 100 miles per hour (161 km per hour). An officer with the Ukrainian Armed Forces told CNN there are definitely speed limits and nothing has changed yet, saying the limits make coordination difficult and the connection drops out for 10 to 15 seconds at a time. The officer said Ukraine has lost a lot of assets, much more than usual, and that reconnaissance drones and drones with Starlink equipped systems on board have been affected.

Ukraine is waiting for information and clarification from the United States, and there has been no response yet, a source familiar with the situation told CNN. The BBC also reported on Friday that Ukraine says Starlink is still restricted after Trump said the limits were lifted. The restrictions have been in place for more than a week and have hindered interceptor drones used against Russian attacks, Ukrainian officials have said.

Update: Trump says Musk restored Ukraine's Starlink access

Updated 01:54 UTC, Oct. 23, 2026. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Elon Musk had restored Ukraine's Starlink access, and he declined to say whether he had spoken to Musk about it, Reuters reported. Asked whether he had called Musk, Trump said he did not want to comment on whether he called or whether somebody else called, and he said the bottom line was that "he put it back."

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Thursday that Trump had called Musk and asked him to lift restrictions on Ukraine's use of Starlink, and that the system was working more normally shortly after the Trump and Musk conversation, citing US and Ukrainian officials. Some Ukrainian officials told the Journal the system had not been restored to full functionality but was working at higher speeds than under the cap.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said earlier on Thursday that speed on Starlink systems had not been restored for Ukraine, and that he hoped for talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the coming days, Reuters reported. Rubio told reporters on Wednesday that decisions regarding Ukraine's access to Starlink were up to its parent company SpaceX and Musk, not the White House.

In an interview with CNN broadcast on Thursday, Zelenskiy said intelligence sharing with the United States had been restored, but Starshield, the military grade service run by SpaceX, was not yet fully restored. Some Ukrainian military units reported higher speeds after the reported restoration, but a source familiar with the matter told CNN the speed was not back everywhere and was not unlimited, and said it was "clearly not enough to intercept jet powered drones." Ukraine was waiting for information and clarification from the US side, and there had been no response yet, the source said.

Updated 18:42 UTC. President Donald Trump said on Friday that neither he nor Elon Musk was responsible for limits on Ukraine's Starshield service, and he said any limit was not imposed by the United States. Speaking to reporters as he left the White House for a campaign trip to Georgia, Trump said he did not think the service had been slowed at all and said it was probably functioning. Reuters, CNN and the New York Post all reported the remarks on Friday afternoon.

Earlier on Friday, in Brussels, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Starlink operations in Ukraine had improved but had not yet been fully restored. He said the disruption had hit logistics and the protection of civilians, because the military relies on Starlink equipped drones that need high speeds to deliver food and water to troops on the front line. Asked whether the full speed from before had returned, Zelensky said it had not, but that speed was coming back. A senior US official told CNN that Trump had made no request to limit the service. No official has yet said on the record who ordered the limits, or whether any limits remain in place.

Updated 06:27 UTC. Reuters reported on Thursday, October 15, that the order to slow Starshield for Ukraine came from inside the White House, citing two US officials and a Western official briefed on the matter. The officials said Defense Department leaders received a message that the service needed to be slowed. They did not say who in the White House made the decision. A senior US official told Reuters that no such request was ever made by the president, and the White House did not answer questions about other officials.

CNN reported a different account from two senior US officials, who said the order did not come from President Donald Trump. CNN said some officials now suspect Elon Musk played a large part in the slowdown. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the Financial Times the limits were deliberate and not a technical problem. A Ukrainian military source told the paper that full service has been restored and the speed limits were lifted. That sits against what a person in Ukraine's Defence Ministry told Reuters on Thursday: terminals worked in motion again, but only at speeds up to 100 miles per hour (160 km/h). No named official has confirmed on the record who ordered the limits or whether they still apply.

Update: Musk says Washington controls Starshield limits

Updated 23:30 UTC, Wednesday: Elon Musk said on Wednesday afternoon that Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government, and that any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately the president. He said commercial Starlink is limited to civilian or defensive use and cannot be used for offensive military action.

By 2 p.m. ET, Ukraine's defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov said connectivity at speeds of up to 160 km/h, about 100 mph, was being restored. He said removing the speed limit entirely is now critical for Ukraine's defense. On Wednesday evening, Ukraine's defence ministry told reporters the connection had improved for speeds up to 160 km/h, but the cap was still being enforced, and actual limits had been significantly lower through much of the day.

Ukrainian intelligence officials said SpaceX imposed temporary speed limits on Starlink terminals in Ukraine, and Ukrainian military sources said the limits disrupted drone operations. The officials said the curbs were based on geolocation and took effect during the night of October 11 to 12, 2026. They said SpaceX cited frequent violations of its terms of service.

SpaceX had not confirmed or explained the limits in the reports cited here. Kyiv has asked SpaceX for information, Ukrainian officials said. This article attributes the claim of a curb, and the reason given for it, to Ukrainian officials throughout.

What Ukrainian officials say changed

According to Ukrainian intelligence officials, the limits apply when a terminal moves above a certain speed. The officials said standard Starlink terminals remained operational. They said the curbs mainly hit Starshield, the military service.

Ukrainian military sources said the effect on operations was direct. They said at least nine long-range unmanned aerial vehicle missions were cancelled. They said drone strikes on targets 40 to 60 kilometres from the front became impossible because terminals disconnected above a certain speed.

Those claims come from Ukrainian officials and military sources. No independent confirmation of the mission count was given in the reports.

A heavy Russian barrage the same week

The dispute became public after another heavy night of Russian strikes. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X on October 14 that Russia used 39 ballistic missiles and more than 120 attack drones against Kyiv, the Kyiv region and Kharkiv. He said the targets were energy and critical infrastructure.

Zelenskyy said about 600,000 people were left without power. He said the strike hit infrastructure covered by the energy ceasefire announced by President Donald Trump days earlier.

A Ukrainian source quoted by the New York Post said it was the second straight night with no United States early warning of ballistic launches. That claim, too, is attributed to that source in the Post report.

Public pressure on Musk

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski publicly challenged Elon Musk on X on Wednesday, October 14. Sikorski asked, in public posts reported that day, whether Musk was playing politics with the product.

Reporting on the dispute also noted prior tension. Musk posted on X about Zelenskyy on October 11. The posts were cited in coverage as background to the row, not as proof of any motive. SpaceX had not, in these reports, stated a motive for any limits, and Ukrainian officials linked their account to terms of service violations as the reason SpaceX gave.

A source quoted by the New York Post said Ukraine Starlink contract runs through May 15, 2027. Kyiv has asked SpaceX for information about the limits, Ukrainian officials said.

Why it matters

Ukraine forces rely on Starlink for communications and for drone work near the front. If terminals cut out at speed, long-range missions that depend on a live link face a hard limit. Ukrainian officials said that is what happened this week.

The next step rests with SpaceX. A public reply would clarify whether limits were imposed, how long they last, and which service they cover. Until then, the facts rest on Ukrainian accounts, set against a night of strikes that left hundreds of thousands of people without power.