Published on •Updated
Ukraine has re-established a "stable" connection to Elon Musk's Starlink network, Kyiv announced on Saturday, following rising tensions with the US over the service.
"Monitoring systems are recording a recovery in the speed of Starlink/Starshield. We are registering a speed of more than 400 km/h, the connection is stable," Ukrainian Defence Minister Yevhenii Khmara said in a statement.
"This result is above all important for our front, for our soldiers, for the operation of drones, for logistics and for communications," he added.
Starlink, and its military version Starshield, have proved crucial to the Ukrainian military's operations as it has continued to battle Russian President Vladimir Putin's invading forces, providing resilient internet and communications over the battlefield.
But the service has been at the centre of a dispute between Washington and Kyiv in recent weeks after Ukrainian forces reported restrictions on the military use of the network.
Serhiy Beskrestnov, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on military technology, said last week that SpaceX had introduced a speed limit overnight without warning.
"Our defence forces did not receive a warning about this limitation and this led to the disruption of several missions," Beskrestnov wrote in a post on Telegram.
Trump told reporters this week that he would speak to Musk if access to Starlink had not been restored.
On Tuesday, Zelenskyy also addressed reported restrictions on US intelligence sharing during a press conference with Nordic leaders, saying he was "thankful" that "intelligence works now."
"I'm speaking about early warning, what is very important for our people, for children, adults, civilians, because we can hear when ballistic is coming," he said.
Russian strikes kill two
It comes as Ukrainian authorities announced that two people had been killed and 18 were injured in Russian strikes on the Donetsk region.
"On 23 October, the Russians killed two residents of Donetsk Oblast: in Sloviansk and Kramatorsk," regional governor Vadym Filashkin said on Saturday morning. "A further 18 people in the region were injured over the past 24 hours."
Ukraine hits back
Ukrainian forces hit back on Friday and overnight with strikes on the Tolyattikauchuk chemical plant, a Proton-Electrotex building in Oryol, and an aircraft at the Yeysk air base in Krasnodar Krai, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The General staff said the strikes on the chemical plant and Proton-Electrotex building would disrupt supply chains and production processes for Russian missiles.