Kyiv restores high-speed satellite links after week of drone outages

Ukrainian military drones can once again connect to satellite networks while traveling at speeds exceeding 400 kilometers per hour. Defence Minister Yevhenii Khmara announced the restoration of stable Starlink and Starshield connections on Saturday. This ends a disruption period lasting more than one week that hindered strike operations against Russian forces.

Khmara attributed the fix to diplomatic efforts led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and subsequent talks with Washington. Ukraine relies on SpaceX, the company owned by Elon Musk, for critical communications and drone guidance. The minister confirmed that equipment moving at 250 miles per hour now maintains a stable link.

It remains unclear which authority ordered the initial restrictions. US President Donald Trump denied direct responsibility for the changes while defending his business partner. The incident intensified existing tensions between Kyiv and Washington. These relations had already strained over Trump’s agreement to temporarily lift sanctions on Russian diesel and permit US imports of that fuel.

Friction deepened earlier this month when Trump publicly called for a change in Ukrainian leadership. On Monday, he suggested that a figure other than Zelenskyy should conduct negotiations for Kyiv. These comments follow a public confrontation between the two leaders at the White House in February 2025.

The return of service coincides with a US effort to restart peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv. Negotiators from all three nations are scheduled to meet in Abu Dhabi in early November. This marks the first major diplomatic engagement more than four years after Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the meeting plan on Friday, and Zelenskyy agreed to technical-level discussions.

Trump also claimed credit for a local ceasefire in Oleshky, located in the Kherson region. Russian forces have occupied this area since 2022. Ukrainian and Russian officials later confirmed the ceasefire began on October 27, with a humanitarian operation planned for October 29.

Combat operations continued across the front line. 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 Chernihiv, a Friday attack killed one person and injured at least 25. Donetsk officials reported that shelling in Kramatorsk killed one person and wounded six, including three children. Mayor Vadym Lyakh of Sloviansk said Friday’s attacks killed a 62-year-old woman and wounded four others. Ukraine reported strikes inside Russia on Friday and Saturday, targeting the Togliattikauchuk petrochemical plant in Togliatti and the Proton electronics plant in Oryol. Russian Defence Ministry data, cited by TASS, claimed air defences intercepted 1,297 fixed-wing drones and four Neptune missiles over a 24-hour period.