Starlink Drone Links Restore at 400 km/h Cap

Ukraine's military regained full satellite connectivity for drones traveling at more than 400 kilometers per hour on Saturday, ending a week of operational disruption. Defence Minister Yevhenii Khmara confirmed that Starlink and Starshield connections are now stable on equipment moving at that speed. He attributed the restoration to diplomatic efforts by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and subsequent talks with Washington.

The outage forced Ukrainian forces to slow or pause drone missions against Russian targets. Khmara stated that the restrictions have been lifted, allowing the fleet to return to its previous velocity. The exact origin of the speed cap remained unclear, with US President Donald Trump denying responsibility while defending SpaceX owner Elon Musk.

The incident added friction to an already strained relationship between Kyiv and Washington. Tensions had risen after Trump agreed to temporarily lift sanctions on Russian diesel and allow US imports of that fuel. Earlier this month, Trump suggested that a new Ukrainian leader should negotiate for Kyiv, a remark that followed a public dispute between the two leaders at the White House in February 2025.

The resolution of the satellite issue coincides with renewed efforts to launch peace negotiations. Ukrainian, Russian, and US negotiators are expected to meet in Abu Dhabi in the first half of November. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the plan on Friday, while Zelenskyy announced agreement on technical-level meetings. These discussions will take place more than four years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Trump also claimed that his wife, Melania Trump, secured a local ceasefire in Oleshky, a town in the Kherson region occupied by Russia since 2022. Ukrainian and Russian officials set the start of the ceasefire for October 27, with a humanitarian operation scheduled for October 29.

Combat continued across the front line during the outage and its resolution. A Russian missile strike on Lozova in the Kharkiv region killed one man and wounded two others on Saturday. In the Chernihiv region, a Friday attack killed one person and wounded at least 25. In Donetsk, shelling in Kramatorsk killed one person and wounded six, including three children. A separate attack in Sloviansk killed a 62-year-old woman and wounded four others.

Ukrainian forces reported strikes inside Russia on Friday and into Saturday. They targeted the Togliattikauchuk petrochemical plant in Togliatti, where Mayor Ilya Sukhikh confirmed industrial damage but no casualties. Ukraine also claimed a hit on the Proton electronics plant in Oryol, a facility that produces missile components. Regional Governor Andrei Klychkov reported three deaths in an attack on an unidentified facility, while authorities in occupied Crimea reported power cuts following overnight strikes. Russia's Defence Ministry stated its air defences intercepted one SCALP missile, four Neptune missiles, and 1,297 fixed-wing drones over 24 hours, a figure TASS reported that has not been independently verified.