Ukraine says Starlink still capped despite Trump’s claim

Ukraine's Defense Ministry said on Friday, October 23, that its military Starlink terminals were still losing their connection at speeds of about 161 km/h (100 mph). The statement came hours after President Donald Trump said Elon Musk had restored the service. Ministry sources told Interfax-Ukraine that the signal drops were still happening as of Friday morning and that there was "currently no confirmation that the restrictions have been lifted."politico.eu

The dispute leaves Kyiv unsure about a satellite network its forces depend on to fly drones and coordinate on the battlefield. It also comes at a low point in relations between Ukraine and Washington.

Conflicting accounts

Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov, a presidential adviser, backed up the ministry's account. "At the moment, we are not observing any lifting of restrictions on Starlink," he wrote on Facebook, according to Ukrainska Pravda. He said that when terminals did run slightly faster than the limit, it was "likely due to how SpaceX's algorithm works or specific operating conditions," and not a sign that the cap had been removed. A senior European official told the Associated Press that the cap was still set at about 160 km/h.pravda.com.ua+1

Reports from the front were mixed. Ukrainian drone units began testing speeds on Thursday evening, and some flights over the Black Sea reached 200 km/h, Politico Europe reported. Even so, the drones quickly lost signal above the limit. "It works better, but with constant connection interruptions," a pilot from the Magyar's Birds unit told the outlet. A Ukrainian officer told CNN that the connection drops for 10 to 15 seconds at a time and that units had "lost a lot of assets, much more than usual."politico.eu+1

Trump's claim

The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Trump had called Musk to ask him to lift the restrictions. Asked about the call, Trump would not confirm it. "I don't want to comment on it, whether I called or whether somebody else called… The bottom line — he put it back," he said, according to NBC News. Some Ukrainian officials told the Journal that the system was running faster than the cap allowed but had not been fully restored. On Friday, the Journal reported that connections with Starshield, the military-grade version of Starlink, were still unreliable across much of Ukraine.nbcnews.com+1

Unclear responsibility

The limits first appeared on October 14. Depending on the equipment, terminals cut out at thresholds between about 72 and 161 km/h. That disrupted interceptor and strike drones, along with reconnaissance and logistics, Interfax-Ukraine reported. Musk has said the US government controls Starshield. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the administration cannot direct SpaceX, which is a private company, according to Politico Europe. Trump has denied any role in the slowdown.politico.eu+1

The slowdown began during a bitter dispute over Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries. Trump has also waived some sanctions on Russia and agreed to a deal to import Russian diesel, the BBC reported. "God forbid they shut it off completely – it would be an absolute catastrophe," one Ukrainian soldier told the broadcaster.bbc.com