Ukraine Says Starlink Speeds Are Restored as Musk and the U.S. Trade Blame

Ukraine said Saturday that its Starlink and Starshield satellite connections are back to their earlier speeds after more than a week of disruption that Ukrainian officials say hampered military operations. Elon Musk, whose company SpaceX runs the services, acknowledged the same day that SpaceX had throttled Starlink in Ukraine, CBS News reported.

Who ordered the slowdown has been disputed for days. Musk, the Trump administration and Ukrainian officials have given different accounts.

What Ukraine says

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X that the restoration began overnight and that speeds were back where they needed to be by Saturday morning, according to CBS News and NPR. He said the fix improved front-line logistics and defense against Russian drones.

Ukraine's Defense Ministry said its monitoring systems recorded the recovery and that the connection stayed stable, ABC News reported. Defense Minister Yevhen Khmara credited direct dialogue and Zelenskyy's diplomacy with Washington. NPR reported that the restrictions had capped speeds at about 100 mph, which it said hindered Ukraine's ability to intercept drones and disrupted missions. Commanders reported lost drones and interrupted missions, CBS said.

NPR reported that Ukraine relies on Starlink for drone operations, logistics such as delivering food and water to soldiers, and front-line communications. Zelenskyy thanked Americans, including members of Congress, the State Department and President Donald Trump.

What Musk and the U.S. government say

In a post on X, Musk said using Starlink, a civilian commercial service, for offensive drone strikes has never been allowed. He said Ukraine's military violated the terms of service and that "that loophole was closed last week," according to CBS and ABC.

Musk also maintained that Starshield, the military version of the service, is owned and controlled by the U.S. government, and that any limits on it are decided by the U.S. military and ultimately the president. He made a similar statement on Oct. 14, NPR reported. He defended SpaceX's role in supporting Ukraine's defense since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

The Trump administration has denied ordering a slowdown and pointed to SpaceX, ABC reported. Trump told reporters on Oct. 16 that his administration did not do it. On Friday, he declined to say who ordered the restrictions, telling reporters he would not say if he knew, NPR reported. He also defended Musk. On Saturday, Trump said he had spoken with Musk about Ukraine but did not say what they discussed, ABC reported.

What this means for Ukraine's defense

The episode showed how much Ukraine's drone operations, supply deliveries and communications depend on a commercial service controlled by a private company and a government that disagree about who is responsible. CBS reported that the episode added to tensions between Kyiv and Washington, which were already strained by Trump's reported deal with Moscow on Russian diesel imports that Ukraine viewed as a betrayal.

Zelenskyy had earlier said Ukrainian officials believed the U.S. government was behind the restrictions, NPR reported. Musk's account puts the responsibility for the Starlink throttling on SpaceX, while saying Starshield decisions were up to Washington. Reports differ on the exact sequence, and neither side has fully explained why the speeds were limited at the time they were.

What happens next

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators asked last week for the Pentagon's independent inspector general to open an official probe into the disruptions, ABC reported. Russia has agreed to resume three-way talks with Washington and Kyiv next month, CBS reported.

Around Prague, based on reporting by CBS News, ABC News, NPR