‘Nothing has changed’: Ukraine says still experiencing Starlink restrictions

Speed restrictions on ⁠Starlink communication systems ​in Ukraine remained in place Friday, preventing Ukrainian drones from flying faster than 160 kilometres per hour, five Ukrainian officials said.

US President Donald Trump ⁠said on Thursday that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had restored Ukraine’s Starlink access. When asked why the restrictions still remained in place on Friday, Trump said he had not yet spoken to Musk about the problem, but told reporters that "if there ‌is a problem, I'll get it straightened out".  

The caps have been ‌in place since October 13 as relations between Kyiv and Washington ⁠soured.

“We are currently not observing any lifting of speed limits on Starlink,” Serhiy Beskrestnov, adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said ​on the Telegram app.

“There are isolated instances where ‌Starlink may travel slightly faster than the speed limit, but this is likely due to the SpaceX algorithm or specific usage conditions.”

A source from the ‌defence ministry and two other Ukrainian officials familiar with the matter also confirmed the restrictions.

Read moreWhat is Starshield, SpaceX's military version of Starlink?

‘Nothing has changed’

Ukraine’s problems with ​Starlink came after Trump announced a deal to buy Russian diesel and waived new sanctions on Moscow.  Trump also told Ukraine to stop its ​attacks on Russian oil refineries and said that Zelensky should be ​replaced.

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Zelensky said that the restrictions complicated Ukraine’s efforts ​to repel Russian jet drone attacks on Ukrainian cities. They also hampered Kyiv’s military efforts along the ​front line, where Starlink terminals were used to fly drones into occupied Ukrainian territory.

“Our people are waiting for positive news, hoping that the restrictions will be lifted and our defenders will have the capabilities they need to ⁠protect lives,” Denys Sienik from the Ukrainian embassy in the United States said in ⁠a post on ​X.

“Unfortunately, as of today, nothing has changed. We continue to wait.”

(FRANCE 24 with Reuters)