Starlink is still restricted for Ukraine, despite claims that Musk lifted the restrictions - Politico learned the details
Kyiv • UNN
Ukrainian officials said that the Starlink restrictions for drones were still in effect as of the morning of October 23.
As of Friday morning, October 23, Ukrainian interceptors still could not use high-speed internet to shoot down Russian attack drones or conduct mid-range operations, Ukrainian officials and drone operators said, despite U.S. President Donald Trump saying that SpaceX founder Elon Musk had lifted the speed restrictions for his Starshield service, Politico reports, UNN writes.
Details
"Morning tests show the speed limits of 140–160 km/h are still there, and the navigation isn’t working properly," a Ukrainian government official told on condition of anonymity.
"As of this morning, instances of connectivity loss at speeds of 161 km/h are still being observed. There is currently no confirmation that the restrictions have been lifted," a defense ministry official told reporters on Friday.
Ukrainian drone units, the publication writes, began testing the speed restrictions on Thursday evening, shortly after Trump told reporters that Musk had restored Starlink. "While some tests recorded speeds of up to 200 km/h over the Black Sea and noted an improvement, the drones still rapidly lost signal once flying above the 160 km/h speed limit," the report states.
"So, the key point is: We accelerate above 180 km/h, fly for a couple of minutes, the connection drops. It falls to 140–150 km/h and then is re-established — but the situation is better," a drone pilot told the publication. "So it works better, but with constant connection interruptions."
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Musk had previously said that the U.S. government controls Starshield, while U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the administration could not give SpaceX or Musk instructions regarding restrictions or slowdowns of Starlink services in Ukraine because it is a private company. On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump called Musk and asked him to lift the restrictions.
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