Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has confirmed that Starlink and Starshield operating speeds have been restored.
He said this in a video address.
“The most important thing today: we have restored Starlink and Starshield to the speeds they had before all these restrictions. The speed is now what we need. The restoration began overnight, and by morning the speeds were already sufficient to use this connection. I want to thank everyone who helped us restore Starlink and Starshield, who supported our Ukrainian communication on this issue and made it possible to return to normal conditions,” the head of state said.
He noted that restoring speeds is important for frontline logistics and for protecting Ukraine from jet-powered Shahed drones.
“This morning I received a report from Ukraine’s Defence Minister Yevhen Khmara. We carried out checks: Starlink and Starshield are working. I thank all Americans, all our partners, who took all this seriously—very seriously—and are truly helping us. Thank you to congressmen, senators, all the media, the State Department and the President. Protecting life matters,” Zelensky added.
Ukraine is continuing communication with partners so that other levels of cooperation with America are also restored. It is important to resume supplies of interceptors for air defence, including interceptors against Russian ballistic missiles. There are packages from the US and Europe that Ukraine is still waiting for, the President said. These are packages “for which there are political decisions”.
Ukraine is preparing meetings in Europe with representatives of Donald Trump and European partners and expects diplomacy to continue.
“There is also an agreement regarding Oleshky. Implementation should happen soon so that access to Oleshky in the temporarily occupied part of our Kherson region is unblocked. The Russians have mined the roads, and because of this the situation is extremely difficult. We hope it will be possible to carry out this humanitarian operation, unblock Oleshky, provide access so that food can be brought in, medicines can be brought in, so that people can leave this combat zone,” the President said, noting that Ukraine will fulfil its part of the agreements and also expects American mediation to work.
Zelensky said there were also meetings on the situation in the regions and the capital, on the resilience plan, and on preparations for winter, protecting people and infrastructure. He announced changes in some regions.
The President thanked the military for long-range strikes on enterprises that are working for the war.
- Earlier, Defence Minister Yevhen Khmara told journalists in a comment that Ukraine’s Defence Ministry is recording the restoration of Starlink and Starshield operating speeds. Monitoring systems are recording speeds of more than 400 km/h.
- US President Donald Trump said that access to Starlink for Ukrainian troops had allegedly been fully restored, but Zelensky spoke of speed restrictions.
- Ukraine checked whether the restrictions were linked to technical problems at SpaceX or whether they were being applied deliberately. To do this, Starlink terminals were tested in European Union countries. According to the data provided, the restrictions were found only on the territory of Ukraine.
- Representatives of the US administration denied Washington’s involvement, but the media wrote that Elon Musk may have personally ordered restrictions on the operation of the military satellite system Starshield in Ukraine.
- Against the backdrop of the disruptions, US congressmen urged the Trump administration to secure the restoration of Ukraine’s full access to Starlink and Starshield. In particular, members of the House of Representatives appealed to US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth to expand the Starshield contract. Stable satellite communications are important for command and control, drone operations, logistics and communications at the front.