President Donald Trump called SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and asked him to lift restrictions on Ukraine’s Starlink satellite network, the Wall Street Journal reported. The move came as frontline Ukrainian drone commanders told The Economist’s Oliver Carroll that the speed limits had likely been lifted and that units were running tests to confirm.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said earlier Thursday that Starlink speeds had not yet been restored and that Kyiv was awaiting a response from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on restoring connectivity at speeds of up to 400 km/h (249 mph), with the US promising an update within 48 hours or longer. Zelenskiy added that he had also discussed additional satellite options with Finland.
The restrictions, first reported on Oct 14, capped in-motion connections on SpaceX’s Starlink and military-grade Starshield terminals at 100 mph (161 km/h), disrupting Ukrainian strike and interceptor drones. Trump, Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth previously denied that Washington ordered the slowdown, though Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that Musk would not want to get in the middle of a war “without the US government directing him on what to do.”