Ukraine Says Starlink Access Restored After Week of Disruption to Military Drone Operations

Ukraine says the restrictions on its military's Starlink satellite connections have been lifted, ending more than a week of disruption that hampered drone operations against Russian forces.

Defence Minister Yevhenii Khmara said on Saturday that Starlink and Starshield connections were stable on equipment moving at more than 400 kilometres per hour (250 miles per hour). He credited talks with Washington and the diplomacy of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the result.

Ukraine depends heavily on satellite services from Elon Musk's SpaceX for communications and drone missions. Who ordered the restrictions remains unclear. US President Donald Trump has denied responsibility while defending Musk.

The episode added strain to relations between Kyiv and Washington, which were already under pressure over 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, and on Monday he suggested that someone other than Zelenskyy should negotiate for Kyiv. The exchanges follow the pair's public confrontation at the White House in February 2025.

The restoration of service comes as the United States tries to revive peace negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv. Negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the US are expected to meet in Abu Dhabi in the first half of November, more than four years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the planned talks on Friday, and Zelenskyy announced agreement on technical-level meetings.

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

Fighting continued in the meantime. A Russian missile strike on Lozova, in the northeastern Kharkiv region, killed a man and wounded two others on Saturday, according to Governor Oleh Syniehubov. In Chernihiv, in the north, a Russian attack on Friday killed a man and wounded at least 25 people, local authorities said. Donetsk officials reported that shelling in Kramatorsk killed one person and wounded six, including three children, while Sloviansk Mayor Vadym Lyakh said Friday's attacks there killed a 62-year-old woman and wounded four people.

Ukraine reported strikes inside Russia on Friday and overnight into Saturday. They included the Togliattikauchuk petrochemical plant in Togliatti, a major producer of synthetic rubber, where Mayor Ilya Sukhikh confirmed industrial damage but no casualties. Ukraine also said it hit the Proton electronics plant in Oryol, which it says makes missile components. Regional Governor Andrei Klychkov reported three deaths in an attack on an unidentified facility. Authorities in Russian-occupied Crimea reported power cuts after overnight Ukrainian attacks.

Russia's Defence Ministry said its air defences intercepted a SCALP cruise missile, four Neptune missiles and 1,297 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones over 24 hours, TASS reported. These figures could not be independently verified.