Ten-Day Starlink Speed Cap Ends: Zelenskyy Confirms Full Access

Ukraine’s government confirmed on Saturday that its military has regained full access to Starlink satellite internet, ending a ten-day period of restricted speeds that disrupted combat operations. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the fix in a video address on Telegram, stating that the connection is now stable and operating at the levels required for frontline logistics and defense.

The restriction capped data speeds at 160km/h, a limit that forced Ukrainian forces to cancel several missions and hindered their ability to intercept Russian attack drones. During the freeze, Russian ballistic missiles struck Ukraine without the usual advance warning from US intelligence systems. The slowdown coincided with President Donald Trump’s announcement of a US deal to purchase Russian diesel.

Blame for the outage shifted between Washington and SpaceX during the week. Trump initially denied his administration was responsible, telling reporters, “I don’t know if it was anybody, but it wasn’t me, and I don’t think it was Elon.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended Trump by stating that the president does not run the company and cannot direct its technical decisions. Rubio noted that the president has nothing to do with the choices made by Starlink and Starshield.

Elon Musk, the chief executive of SpaceX, pushed back by writing on X that the systems are owned and controlled by the US government. He argued that limits on speed are decided by the US military and ultimately the president. Vice-president JD Vance supported Musk on Thursday, saying the billionaire did not want to get caught in the middle of a war between two state actors without explicit government direction.

Zelenskyy placed responsibility on both sides, describing the event as a planned operation. He said, “It was a message from [the] American government to limit the speed,” while noting that SpaceX executed the technical change. The Ukrainian president pointed out that Starshield terminals in EU countries were unaffected, and he warned that the decision would lead to human losses.

The situation appeared resolved earlier in the week, but details were conflicting. On Thursday, Trump claimed service was back to full speed, yet a European official told the Associated Press that the system was not fully functioning. When asked if he would tell Musk to stop “messing around” with Ukraine’s access, Trump said he had not spoken to him but might have to. He added, “If there is a problem, I’ll get it straightened out,” before calling Musk “very brilliant” and “very good.”