President Donald Trump said Elon Musk has restored Ukraine's full access to the military-grade version of Starlink, more than a week after front-line drone pilots first experienced restrictions that undermined Ukrainian mid-range operations against Russia. Musk's SpaceX firm runs the Starlink internet connectivity service.
Trump refused to be drawn on whether he had asked Musk to restore full connectivity, telling reporters on Thursday: "Bottom line, he put it back."
But Ukrainian sources say they are still experiencing speed limits above 160 kilometers per hour (100 miles per hour) on the Starshield network, impacting Kyiv's ability to carry out strikes on Russian targets and defend Ukrainian cities against jet-powered drone assaults.
Ukrainian officials haven't confirmed any Starlink curbs have been lifted, Serhii Beskrestnov, a Ukrainian presidential adviser, said on Friday. Although Starlink is now occasionally working above the previous speed limits, this doesn't mean any constraints have been fully loosened, he said in a brief post to messaging app Telegram.
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Trump and top administration officials have denied initially ordering Musk to curb Ukraine's connection to Starshield.
Musk, however, said Starshield systems are "owned and controlled" by the U.S. government, meaning "any limits on speed or usage" are dictated by the U.S. military, and, ultimately, the U.S. president. Newsweek has reached out to SpaceX for comment.
Ukrainian drone pilots suddenly discovered last week their unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) could only fly at up to half their previous speeds, hampering their ability to take out Russian logistics, munitions depots and command-and-control centers up to 125 miles from the front line.
Alongside this, Kyiv said it hadn't received the usual intelligence data on often devastating Russian ballistic missile strikes leveled at its major cities. While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said intelligence flows from the U.S. had been restored by Tuesday, U.S. officials denied choking off early warnings of Russian attacks.
Together, these events became an uncomfortable reminder of how much Kyiv depends on the U.S. to fight Russia, even when Trump and his administration openly criticize the Ukrainian leader and relations are at their most strained.
Zelensky said on Sunday the U.S. had sent a "message" by throttling Starshield and Starlink connections as Trump contends with high fuel prices for U.S. consumers—and no tangible results on a peace deal between Moscow and Kyiv—as midterm elections loom.
The Trump administration withheld intelligence and military aid in March 2025 in an effort to force Ukraine to the negotiating table.
The Kremlin said on Wednesday Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to resume three-way talks on a peace deal next month, shortly after Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, visited the Kremlin chief in St. Petersburg.
Witkoff praised Putin as a "humanitarian," a remark widely decried as missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian towns and cities continued.
Anonymous U.S. officials told Reuters last week the Pentagon received a message from inside the White House, saying Starshield speed should be limited for the Ukrainian military.
But Trump called Musk on Wednesday to ask him to peel back the limits, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
There's currently no real alternative to Starshield or Starlink for Ukraine. Ukrainian forces mostly use the general Starlink network for communications and data transfers, rather than guiding strikes on the battlefield.
The services are already integrated into Ukraine's military systems, and Starlink is by far the biggest constellation in orbit.
Europe is slowly working on its own designs as the continent also tries to move away from decades of dependence on the U.S. military, and Ukraine said on Thursday the country would "make greater use of Finland's satellite capabilities."
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Dan Orton and Tony Phillips.