Ukraine says Starlink back to normal

KYIV:

Ukraine said on Saturday the Starlink satellite system and its military version Starshield were now fully functional after over a week of restrictions that disrupted military operations and intensified tensions with the US. Hours later, Elon Musk, who owns the systems, accused the Ukrainian military of violating Starlink’s terms. “Ukraine military violated Starlink terms of service and used it for offensive drone strikes to kill people. That loophole was closed last week”, he said on X. There were no immediate public comment from Ukrainian officials. Problems with the systems came after US President Donald Trump announced a deal to buy Russian diesel while pressing Kyiv to stop striking Russian oil refineries. Ukrainian officials said the restrictions, which capped operations at speeds of 160 kph (100 mph), hampered the military’s ability to intercept Russian attack drones and forced the cancellation of some operations. “The main thing for today is that Starlink and Starshield have resumed operations at their pre-restriction speeds. The speeds are now at the level we need,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on the Telegram app. According to Zelenskiy, the speeds started returning to normal overnight. Ukraine’s defence ministry said on Saturday the connection remained stable at over 400 kph. Ukraine does not rely on the systems for long-range drone operations on Russian territory, including attacks on refineries. But Starlink remains vital for frontline communications, and the deployment of Starshield-enabled medium-range attack drones has helped Ukraine gain the upper hand in several areas of the battlefield this year. The restrictions sparked outrage in Ukraine, particularly as they coincided with disruptions to allied warnings about incoming Russian missile attacks. Kyiv later said it continued to receive US intelligence. Neither Musk nor the US government has acknowledged responsibility for restricting Starlink or Starshield in Ukraine. Both have said publicly that any such decision could only have been taken by the other. Reuters has reported that the order to throttle Starshield came from inside the White House. Previously, US administrations had several times asked SpaceX to turn Starlink on or off in various countries, sources said.