Ukraine Says Starlink Connection Is Stable Again

Ukraine now has a "stable connection" to Starlink, Defence Minister Yevhenii Khmara said on Saturday, after the country's military spent days with restricted connectivity on the satellite internet network.

Khmara said speeds of more than 400km/h are possible again on the network, which indicates that full capability has been restored. "This result is above all important for our front, for our soldiers, for the operation of drones, for logistics and for communications," he said in a statement.

What went wrong

Kyiv relies on Starlink and its military-grade counterpart Starshield to pilot drones and run operations inside Ukraine. Last week it accused US President Donald Trump of telling Starlink owner Elon Musk to place limits on the service. Under the limits, drones would lose their connection when travelling at 161km/h (100mph) or more. Trump denied doing so, then said Musk had "put it back".

Ukraine uses both the civilian Starlink service and the more secure Starshield, which Musk said was controlled by the US military when he suggested the Pentagon could be behind the recent problems. The military uses the network of 10,000 low Earth orbit satellites heavily, particularly in remote areas of the battlefield. Russia is not authorised to use Starlink, so the network does not work when Ukraine sends long-range missiles or drones deep into Russia to hit oil refineries.

Backdrop of a diplomatic row

The Starlink dispute emerged during a wider row between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil infrastructure. Trump, facing midterm elections next month, has waived some sanctions on Russia and agreed a deal to import Russian diesel for the US market, a move criticised by Ukraine and its European allies. Trump said the strikes have pushed global prices higher. Kyiv says they are crucial to stemming Moscow's main source of revenue. Zelensky said the US had also threatened to withdraw intelligence sharing if the strikes did not stop, which Trump denied.

Fighting continued on Saturday. Russia's defence ministry said its air defences shot down 616 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones, and the Moscow-backed governor of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, said power cuts caused by a drone strike led to restrictions on electricity and water. 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. They said Russia carried out 88 air strikes on Friday using 309 glide bombs and 10,270 kamikaze drones.

Source: BBC News