Ukraine Says Starlink Slowdown Disrupted Drone Missions Before Access Was Restored

Ukraine says a sudden speed limit on military satellite terminals disrupted drone missions at the front, and officials in Kyiv and London now say normal service has been restored. The episode has fed a wider dispute between Kyiv and Washington over strikes on Russian oil facilities and over U.S. intelligence sharing, according to The Independent and The Guardian.

The cause of the slowdown has not been explained. Ukraine's defense ministry will keep seeking clarification, a ministry source told Reuters.

What happened to Ukraine's satellite access

Ukrainian officials said terminals on drones stopped working when moving faster than a set speed. Presidential adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov wrote on Telegram that the defense forces got no warning, which disrupted several missions. He said SpaceX had imposed a limit of 160 kph (100 mph). A defense ministry source told Reuters that units reported guidance systems losing their connections at less than half that speed.

According to The Independent, the cutoff hampered Ukraine's medium-range strikes on Russian military sites and its use of interceptor drones against Russian drones. The Guardian reported that mid-strike drone attacks on targets in Russian-occupied areas came to a halt, and that there were concerns about intercepting new Russian jet-powered attack drones bombing Ukrainian cities.

Reports differ on timing. The Independent said Ukrainian officials began reporting problems on Wednesday. The Guardian described a U.S. government decision on Monday to limit Starlink use by Ukraine's military, with the change taking effect without warning at about 1 a.m.

Starlink and Starshield: how they differ

Starlink is a SpaceX internet network of more than 11,000 satellites with roughly 13 million subscribers, The Independent reported. SpaceX launched its first Starlink satellites in 2019. Starshield, unveiled in 2022, is a SpaceX unit that builds military and intelligence satellite systems for the U.S. Department of Defense.

The Independent said the two systems share much of their underlying technology. Starshield uses enhanced encryption and dedicated terminals but relies on the Starlink constellation. Britain also uses Starshield, and its defense ministry has said the service runs through dedicated terminals and separate network gateways.

Elon Musk said on social media that the U.S. government owns and controls Starshield, while Starlink is a commercial SpaceX service. He added that any limits on Starshield would be decided by the U.S. military or the president. Poland's foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, whose country pays for Ukrainian Starlink subscriptions, asked Musk on X whether he was “playing politics with your products again.”

The wider dispute over oil strikes and intelligence

The Independent reported that President Donald Trump had announced an “energy ceasefire” last week that surprised both Kyiv and Moscow. He also announced a deal to waive sanctions on Russian diesel and called for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to be replaced. The Guardian said Trump agreed earlier this month to buy diesel from Russia and is trying to push Ukraine to stop bombing Russian refineries to lower world oil prices before the U.S. midterm elections.

Ukraine said it paused energy strikes for three days. Zelenskyy told the Financial Times that his forces were left without U.S. early-warning alerts for incoming missiles and that satellite communications were slowed nationwide. Ukrainian officials say the U.S. threatened to cut intelligence sharing unless the refinery attacks stopped, according to The Guardian. The Guardian also reported that Zelenskyy said he felt personally betrayed by Trump.

Why it matters: drones, defenses and allied support

For Ukraine, the satellite link is part of how many drones are guided, so a speed limit can stop strikes and interceptions in progress. The episode also shows how much the country's military depends on systems run by a U.S. company and on decisions made in Washington.

For Ukraine's partners, the row raises questions about how reliable those services are. British Defense Secretary Wes Streeting, speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, acknowledged “the challenges of recent days.” He said U.S. support had made a real impact on Ukraine's war effort and would be missed if withdrawn. He argued that backing Ukraine serves U.S. interests and offers a defense-industrial opportunity.

“There's rarely been a more important time for Britain and America to come together,” Streeting said.

What happens next

After meeting U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Streeting told the BBC he had been reassured directly that access to the system was restored. He said it was not yet clear to the UK why the disruption happened. A Ukrainian defense ministry source told Reuters on Thursday that Starshield functionality while in motion was back, and Zelenskyy's office confirmed to the Financial Times that speed limits were lifted.

The Guardian said the two defense chiefs were also expected to discuss the safety of U.S. bases in the UK and a possible joint response to Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia. Ukraine remained the most urgent topic, according to the paper.

Sources: The Independent, The Guardian