Ukraine says restrictions on Starlink speed now lifted

The Starlink satellite communications system and ‌its military version Starshield are operating again at speeds over 400km/h, ‌Kyiv’s defence minister said on Saturday.“The Ministry of Defence’s monitoring systems are recording a return to normal speed for Starlink/Starshield. We are recording a speed of over ​400km/h. The connection is stable,” Evhenii Khmara told reporters.His comments come after more than a week of service restrictions that slowed ​connections and disrupted military operations.The Ukrainian military does not ⁠disclose the systems’ maximum operating speeds, and the defence ministry ‌did ‌not ​say whether service had been fully restored.READ MORE“Monitoring systems had previously recorded disruptions to the Starlink/Starshield service. The ⁠speed metrics have ​now returned to normal,” the ministry said.The ​restrictions, first reported on October 14th, undermined Ukraine’s ability to intercept ‌Russian attack drones and disrupted frontline ​communications, Ukrainian officials said. Sources said connection speeds had been ⁠reduced to about 160km/h or ⁠less.Ukraine’s ​problems with SpaceX-owned Starlink came after US president Donald Trump announced a deal to buy Russian diesel and waived new sanctions on Moscow while pressing Ukraine to stop striking Russian oil refineries.Neither SpaceX boss Elon Musk nor the US government has acknowledged responsibility for restricting Starlink or Starshield in Ukraine. ‌Both have said ⁠publicly that any such decision could only have been taken by the other.Reuters has reported that the order ‌to throttle Starshield came from inside the White House.Trump said on Friday that ​if problems with access to Starlink communications systems ​in Ukraine persisted, he would “get it straightened out”. Speaking to Bloomberg News last weekend, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Trump of trying to pressure Kyiv into surrendering to Moscow. He also said the US was delaying deliveries of crucial Patriot air defence interceptors used to defend Ukraine’s cities. The US also failed to share early warning alerts about Russian ballistic missiles attacking Ukraine several times, he said. – Reuters, Bloomberg