SpaceX appears to have lifted the restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Starshield, the military version of Starlink, with Defence Minister Evgeniy Khmara telling reporters the service appears to be working normally again, although the military is still conducting tests and has received no explanation for the restrictions. TechCrunch reported the development on Saturday, citing Wall Street Journal reporting.
The restoration ends, for now, a ten day period in which Ukrainian drones lost internet connectivity when flying at speeds of around 100 miles per hour, leaving the military unable to control some drones and forcing others to fly more slowly and more vulnerably. President Trump reportedly called Elon Musk on Wednesday and asked him to restore the service.
The underlying dispute is unresolved. Musk has said Ukraine violated Starlink’s terms of service by using it for offensive drone strikes, and has said that if Starlink were turned off the Ukrainian front line would collapse immediately, which he described as a statement of fact rather than a threat. Reporting earlier in the week described Ukrainian forces learning to operate with degraded satellite access.