Ukraine's Starlink speeds drop amid Russian strikes on drones

Starlink speed limits cut Ukraine drone connectivity during Russian strikes

Starlink restricted drone guidance speeds to 100mph on Tuesday night, severing connectivity for Ukrainian weapons travelling faster than that threshold during a Russian attack on Kyiv that killed several people and struck military communications and energy infrastructure.

SpaceX restored partial connectivity by Wednesday evening, according to former Ukrainian defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who posted his thanks to Elon Musk on X and asked for continued support. Full restoration remains incomplete.

Musk, responding to Ukrainian officials' public appeals including a statement from President Zelensky, said Starshield — the military-grade service operating alongside civilian Starlink — is owned and controlled by the US government. Any speed or usage limits, Musk wrote, are decided by the US military and ultimately the president. A Zelensky adviser said the restrictions were not coincidental and were connected to current tensions between Kyiv and Washington.

The episode draws a public line between Starlink, which Musk says is restricted to civilian and defensive use, and Starshield, where operational decisions sit with the Pentagon. That distinction now has battlefield consequences Ukraine cannot route around.

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Eleanor Ashworth

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Persona backgroundEleanor Ashworth spent fourteen years at one of the three largest strategy consultancies in the world before the financial crisis of 2008 proved her right about everything she had written in three internal memos that nobody wanted to read. She was not one of the people who was wrong.