Ukraine Restores Starlink Links After Week of Drone Outage

Ukrainian military forces regained full access to Starlink satellite internet on Saturday. This move ends a disruption that lasted more than a week and hampered drone operations against Russian troops. The restoration allows units to maintain stable communications while moving at high speeds.

Defence Minister Yevhenii Khmara announced the recovery of service on Saturday. He stated that Starlink and Starshield connections are stable on equipment traveling at more than 400 kilometers per hour. Khmara credited talks with Washington and the diplomacy of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for resolving the issue.

The outage affected a critical infrastructure component for Ukraine’s war effort. The country relies heavily on satellite services from Elon Musk’s SpaceX for communications and drone missions. It remains unclear who initially ordered the restrictions. US President Donald Trump denied responsibility for the cutoff while defending Musk.

The incident added strain to relations between Kyiv and Washington. These ties were already under pressure due to Trump’s agreement to temporarily lift sanctions on Russian diesel and allow US imports. Earlier this month, Trump called for Ukraine to have a new president. On Monday, he suggested that someone other than Zelenskyy should negotiate for Kyiv. These exchanges follow the pair’s public confrontation at the White House in February 2025.

The return of service coincides with efforts to revive peace negotiations. Negotiators from Ukraine, Russia, and the US are expected to meet in Abu Dhabi in the first half of November. This meeting is scheduled for more than four years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the planned talks on Friday. Zelenskyy announced agreement on technical-level meetings.

Trump also credited his wife, Melania Trump, with securing a local ceasefire in Oleshky. This area is in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine, which Russian forces have occupied since 2022. Ukrainian and Russian statements set the start of the ceasefire for October 27. A humanitarian operation is planned for October 29.

Fighting continued in other regions during the disruption. A Russian missile strike on Lozova in the Kharkiv region killed a man and wounded two others on Saturday. In Chernihiv, a Russian attack on Friday killed a man and wounded at least 25 people. Donetsk officials reported that shelling in Kramatorsk killed one person and wounded six, including three children. Sloviansk Mayor Vadym Lyakh said Friday’s attacks there killed a 62-year-old woman and wounded four people.