On Wednesday morning, October 14th, Ukraine announced that Starlink had limited the speed of its Starshield system for the needs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to 160 km/h.
However, on Thursday, several Ukrainian and Western media outlets, citing sources in the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, reported that the Starshield service had resumed its operation.
However, this was not officially confirmed by anyone.
The situation became clearer yesterday.
A Reuters source in the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense reported that the receivers are now working while in motion, but only at a speed of up to 160 km/h. That is, slower than before. As a reminder, Ukrainian volunteers and experts had previously reported that the initial speed limit was set to this value. Subsequently, according to their information, the restrictions became even stricter, but now, according to Reuters, the speed has been increased again to 160 km/h, but not to the previous levels.
Yesterday, Zelensky also effectively confirmed this information. He said that the speed at which SpaceX provides internet access is being restored, but not fully yet.
As Ukrainian volunteers and journalists have stated, the 160 km/h limit has already disrupted a number of operations by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, especially in the area of "mid-range strikes" (i.e., attacks on Russian rear areas in territories occupied in Ukraine). It also limits the speed of operation of Ukrainian interceptor drones.
It is also now almost certain that this is not a technical malfunction (given that the service has not yet been fully restored), but a political decision by Washington. Apparently, this is a measure of pressure on Kiev due to Zelensky's refusal to stop attacks on oil refineries.
At the same time, it is also clear that this decision could not have been made without the consent of Trump.
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