Ukraine’s October 24 announcement followed losses of drone control above about 150 km/h. Its Defence Ministry said restored links mattered for frontline drone operations, logistics and communications.
Ukraine’s Defence Ministry said on October 24, 2026 that Starlink service had returned to normal, with communication stable at movement speeds above 400 km/h. Restored high-speed connectivity was important for frontline service members, drone operations, logistics and communications.
Ukraine’s defence minister attributed the restoration to direct dialogue and the Ukrainian president’s persistent stance at the highest level.
On October 14, Ukraine had reported losing control of its drones above about 150 km/h. That made it difficult to intercept Russian jet-powered drones travelling above 500 km/h.
The ministry said it continued to monitor Starlink/Starshield operation, without specifying whether the restoration was permanent.
SpaceX, the American aerospace company behind Starlink, activated the satellite-internet service in Ukraine in February 2022 to replace communications networks degraded or destroyed during the war. SpaceX initially supplied and funded the service without charge; by June 2023, the US Department of Defense was covering Ukraine’s Starlink expenses.
Access had been disputed before. In 2022, Elon Musk declined Ukraine’s request to extend Starlink coverage to Russian-occupied Crimea during a counterattack on a Crimean port; providing service there would have violated US sanctions.
Starlink owner Musk initially denied involvement in the latest restrictions, then said on October 24 that he had “closed a loophole” allowing Ukraine to use Starlink offensively, Al Jazeera said. Its account described Starshield as a Pentagon-owned military-grade service.
Mykhailo Fedorov says Starlink links up to 160 km/h are being restored and calls for the full removal of Starshield’s speed limit.
Ukraine said the speed restrictions damaged its interception of Russian jet-powered Geran-4 and Geran-5 drones while the restrictions lasted. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, attributed a fall in Ukraine’s interception rate to what it described as a 10-day outage.
| Measure | Earlier figure | Later figure |
|---|---|---|
| Ukraine’s interception rate: Institute for the Study of War’s outage assessment | 77 percent | 74 percent |
| Jet-powered drones shot down: Ukrainian Air Force data | 60 percent: three-month average | At least 75 percent: week ending October 29 |
Between the disruption and the restoration announcement, Ukraine and Finland announced on October 22 that they were jointly developing an independent sovereign military satellite system. Satellite company ICEYE and connectivity-infrastructure company Nokia said they were partnering to realise it.
ICEYE and Nokia had announced their satellite-communications development partnership on October 1, 2026, combining ICEYE’s satellite-mission experience with Nokia’s secure-networking technology. Their proposed sovereign systems would let participating nations own and control the satellites, ground infrastructure and terminals.
The planned systems would complement military and commercial networks, rather than replace them. They expect their first communications satellites to launch in 2028.
5 min
