Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Ukraine again has a “stable connection” to Starlink, the government said on Saturday, after days of tensions with Washington over the SpaceX-made network crucial to the Ukrainian army’s operations. Kyiv relies on the civilian Starlink satellite communications system and the military-grade Starshield version as it tries to defend itself from Russian missile and drone attacks.
“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,” Defence Minister Yevgeniy 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.
“Right now, the speed is what we need. The restoration began during the night,” he said on social media. “This is very important; it’s significant for our frontline logistics, for protecting Ukraine” from rocket-powered drones, he stressed. The satellite network has been at the centre of a row between Ukraine and the United States.
Zelensky had accused Washington of helping Russia by failing to warn Kyiv of incoming missile strikes and hobbling its military response by throttling Starlink’s speed. Khmara credited Zelensky’s “firm stance” on the issue, judging that it was “bearing fruit.”
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he would speak to tech tycoon Elon Musk, head of SpaceX, if Kyiv was having problems with the communications platform. Trump had said Thursday that Musk had restored access.
While Musk has shifted stance on Ukraine many times since Russia’s invasion in 2022, he has insisted that any disruption was the responsibility of the US government, not SpaceX.
© 2024 AFP
