SpaceX Removes Speed Cap on Ukraine's Starlink Drone Links

Ukraine's military can again use Starlink satellite connections on drones travelling faster than 400 kilometres per hour, ending a week of disrupted operations. Defence Minister Yevhenii Khmara said on Saturday that Starlink and Starshield links were stable on equipment exceeding that speed, which is 250 miles per hour.

Khmara said the change followed discussions with Washington and diplomacy by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Ukraine relies on SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk, for satellite communications and drone missions. Who ordered the restrictions is not established. US President Donald Trump has denied giving the instruction while defending Musk.

The disruption strained relations between Kyiv and Washington, already under pressure over Trump's move to temporarily lift sanctions on Russian diesel and permit US imports. Trump called earlier this month for Ukraine to have a new president, and on Monday said someone other than Zelenskyy should conduct negotiations for Kyiv. The two leaders held a public confrontation at the White House in February 2025.

The service restoration comes as the United States works to restart peace talks. Negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the US are scheduled to meet in Abu Dhabi in the first half of November, more than four years after Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the planned talks on Friday, and Zelenskyy announced agreement on technical-level meetings.

Fighting continued over the weekend. A Russian missile strike on Lozova in the Kharkiv region killed a man and wounded two others on Saturday, according to Governor Oleh Syniehubov. In Chernihiv, a Russian attack on Friday killed a man and wounded at least 25 people, local authorities said. Officials in Donetsk reported shelling in Kramatorsk killed one person and wounded six, including three children.

Ukraine reported strikes inside Russia on Friday and into Saturday. They included the Togliattikauchuk petrochemical plant in Togliatti, a major producer of synthetic rubber, where Mayor Ilya Sukhikh confirmed industrial damage and no casualties. Ukraine also said it hit the Proton electronics plant in Oryol, which it says makes missile components. Regional Governor Andrei Klychkov reported three deaths in an attack on an unidentified facility.

Russia's Defence Ministry said its air defences intercepted a SCALP cruise missile, four Neptune missiles and 1,297 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones over 24 hours, TASS reported. Those figures could not be independently verified.