Zelenskyy says US missile warnings fully restored

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that US warnings of incoming Russian ballistic missiles have been fully restored, a day after Starlink and its military counterpart, Starshield, came back to full speed following more than a week of throttling. Elon Musk, meanwhile, said SpaceX had restricted Starlink because Ukraine's military used it for "offensive drone strikes to kill people," a claim Ukrainian officials rejected.opb.org+1

Speeds and Warnings Return

In an address on Saturday, Oct. 24, Zelenskyy said Starlink and Starshield "have been restored to the speeds we had before all the restrictions," and thanked members of Congress, the State Department and President Trump. Ukraine's Defense Ministry said connectivity stayed stable for projectiles and interceptors moving faster than 250 mph, after the cap of about 100 mph had hurt drone interceptions and disrupted missions.opb.org+1

In an interview with Ukraine's TSN channel, Zelenskyy said Starshield had worked at speeds of up to 420 kilometers per hour since early Saturday. He said both that fix and the restored ballistic warnings came out of his meeting with US envoy Steve Witkoff in Oslo. Earlier this month, Zelenskyy said Ukraine went three days without US alerts during ballistic attacks. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has denied that the administration changed its intelligence-sharing policy.usnews.com+2

Musk's Claim and Kyiv's Rebuttal

"Ukraine military violated Starlink terms of service and used it for offensive drone strikes to kill people. That loophole was closed last week," Musk wrote on X. He added that Starshield is controlled by the US government. Musk did not say who closed the loophole. He also said Ukraine's front line would "collapse immediately" if Starlink were turned off.opb.org+1

Serhii Beskrestnov, a defense technology adviser to Zelenskyy, said drones on civilian Starlink were already capped at 70 to 90 kph inside Ukraine and did not work in Russia. "Therefore, we physically cannot use commercial Starlink for deep strikes or medium-range strikes," he wrote.pbs.org

Questions Over Who Gave the Order

It is still not clear who ordered the Starshield limits. Trump has said he did not make the call, while Vice President JD Vance has hinted that the White House coordinated with Musk. When reporters asked Trump on Friday who ordered the restrictions, he replied, "I wouldn't tell you if I did know," and added that "Elon will never do anything wrong".opb.org+1

The service came back as the US pushes for new peace talks. Russia has agreed to three-way negotiations with Washington and Kyiv in November. Zelenskyy said Ukraine would not discuss limits on its armed forces or forced neutrality after the war. "The issue of territories is a red line that can be discussed exclusively at the level of leaders," he said.pbs.org+1