Khmara: Starlink Links Stable for Drones Exceeding 400 km/h

Ukraine's military satellite connections have returned to full operational status, ending a weeklong interruption that slowed drone strikes against Russian forces. Defence Minister Yevhenii Khmara announced the resolution on Saturday, confirming that links are stable for equipment moving at speeds above 400 kilometres per hour, or 250 miles per hour.

The disruption affected Starlink and Starshield services provided by Elon Musk's SpaceX, a system upon which Kyiv relies for critical communications and strike coordination. The exact origin of the restrictions remains unclear, with US President Donald Trump denying direct responsibility while defending Musk's decision. Khmara attributed the fix to diplomatic efforts by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and subsequent discussions with Washington.

The incident intensified tensions between the two governments. Relations were already strained by Trump's recent agreement to temporarily lift sanctions on Russian diesel and permit US imports. In early October, Trump publicly called for a change in Ukrainian leadership, suggesting that a figure other than Zelenskyy should negotiate for Kyiv. These remarks echoed the leaders' public confrontation at the White House in February 2025.

The technical fix arrives as the United States moves to restart peace talks. Negotiators from Moscow, Kyiv, and Washington are scheduled to meet in Abu Dhabi in the first half of November. This will be the first major trilateral engagement since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the talks on Friday, while Zelenskyy agreed to 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. Ukrainian and Russian officials set the ceasefire start date for October 27, with a humanitarian operation planned for October 29.

Combat operations continued during the satellite outage. 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 north, a Russian attack on Chernihiv killed a man and wounded at least 25 people on Friday. In the east, shelling in Kramatorsk killed one person and wounded six, including three children, while a strike in Sloviansk killed a 62-year-old woman and wounded four others.

Ukraine reported strikes inside Russia over the same period, targeting the Togliattikauchuk petrochemical plant in Togliatti and the Proton electronics plant in Oryol. Regional Governor Andrei Klychkov reported three deaths at an unidentified facility in Oryol. Russian Defence Ministry data, cited by TASS, claimed air defences intercepted a SCALP cruise missile, four Neptune missiles, and 1,297 fixed-wing drones over the past 24 hours.