Ukraine Confirms Full Starlink Restoration for High-Speed Military Drones
Defence Minister Yevhenii Khmara stated that satellite links are stable for equipment moving above 400 km/h, ending a week-long disruption that hampered drone operations.
By Thomas Obasi ·
Ukraine has restored satellite connectivity for its fastest military drones after more than a week of operational disruption.
Defence Minister Yevhenii Khmara announced on Saturday that Starlink and Starshield services are stable on equipment moving at speeds exceeding 400 kilometres per hour. He attributed the resolution to diplomatic talks with Washington and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The restoration allows Ukrainian forces to resume drone missions against Russian targets that had been limited by the connection loss.
The outage created friction between Kyiv and Washington, two governments already negotiating the temporary lifting of US sanctions on Russian diesel. President Donald Trump denied ordering the restrictions but defended Elon Musk, whose SpaceX provides the satellite infrastructure. Trump recently suggested that a leader other than Zelenskyy should negotiate for Ukraine, a remark that followed their public disagreement at the White House in February 2025. The satellite issue adds a new layer to these strained relations as peace efforts accelerate.
US negotiators, alongside counterparts from Ukraine and Russia, are set to meet in Abu Dhabi in the first half of November. This will be the first high-level contact more than four years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the schedule on Friday, while Zelenskyy agreed to hold technical-level meetings. Trump also claimed that his wife, Melania Trump, helped secure a local ceasefire in Oleshky, a town in the Kherson region occupied by Russian forces since 2022. Both sides expect the ceasefire to begin on October 27, with a humanitarian operation scheduled for October 29.
Combat continued during the satellite disruption. A Russian missile strike on Lozova in the Kharkiv region killed one man and wounded two others on Saturday, according to Governor Oleh Syniehubov. In the Chernihiv region, a Friday attack killed a man and injured at least 25 people. Officials in Donetsk reported that shelling in Kramatorsk killed one person and wounded six, including three children. Vadym Lyakh, the mayor of Sloviansk, said Friday's strikes killed a 62-year-old woman and wounded four residents.
Ukrainian forces reported strikes inside Russia on Friday and into Saturday. These included an attack on the Togliattikauchuk petrochemical plant in Togliatti, a major synthetic rubber producer. Mayor Ilya Sukhikh confirmed industrial damage but reported no casualties. Ukraine also targeted the Proton electronics plant in Oryol, a facility it says manufactures missile components. Regional Governor Andrei Klychkov reported three deaths from an attack on an unidentified facility in the region. Authorities in Russian-occupied Crimea reported power outages following overnight Ukrainian strikes.
Russia's Defence Ministry stated that its air defences intercepted one SCALP cruise missile, four Neptune missiles, and 1,297 fixed-wing drones over a 24-hour period, according to TASS. Independent verification of these figures was not available.
