Ukraine reports restrictions on military Starlink above 160 kilometres per hour
Key Facts
Ukrainian presidential adviser Serhii Beskrestnov said in remarks reported by Reuters on 14 October 2026 that SpaceX had disabled the military version of Starlink at speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour, or 160 kilometres per hour. The restrictions affected communications used by Ukrainian forces to operate drones, and the forces said units had been forced to cancel some missions. The Ukrainian complaints concerned the military package known as Starshield, which was also covered in the Associated Press's reporting on the incident. Beskrestnov said, according to Euronews: "Our defence forces received no warning about this restriction." The Ukrainian announcement thus combined identification of a speed threshold at which the service stops with an account of a battlefield impact that forced units to cancel their missions.
Describing the disruption during flight, a Ukrainian unit told Reuters that connections dropped for periods of 10–20 seconds at speeds no higher than 110–120 kilometres per hour. The speeds at which the unit recorded these outages were below the cutoff threshold for the military version cited by the Ukrainian presidential adviser. Ukraine's uses of the network include frontline resupply as well as drone missions, according to the Associated Press. Satellite communications are thus also used for battlefield logistics, while the unit's account of outages concerned connections during flight. Ukrainian drones striking the oil industry inside Russia use other means of communication, according to Reuters, distinguishing the communications used in those operations from the service covered by the Ukrainian complaints.
On who controls the military service, the Associated Press quoted Elon Musk as saying it was "under the control of the U.S. military and Trump." Musk's statement specifically concerned the military version of Starlink, the service linked to reports of restrictions on the movement of Ukrainian terminals. Ukraine's defence ministry had previously announced that it was working with SpaceX to address Russia's use of Starlink on its drones. The ministry said it was working with the company "actively to address the issue of the use of the Starlink satellite communications system on Russian drones." The cooperation announced by the ministry and the company thus covered addressing Russian use of the network, while the Ukrainian complaints concerned the military version cutting out during operations by Ukrainian forces.
In European markets, Eutelsat shares rose 23% by 1355 GMT during the 14 October session, when the restrictions were announced, according to Reuters. Shares in satellite company SES rose 2.6% in the same session, extending the gains to another European company in the sector. Analysts polled by Reuters linked the rise in European companies' shares to expectations that governments and customers would seek alternatives to U.S. satellite services. The analysts said those customers "may look for alternatives," explaining the buying of European satellite communications shares following the news. Eutelsat shares thus posted a larger gain than SES shares during the session, amid the investor bets described by analysts on where demand for satellite services would go.
The European companies' gains come against a wide gap in the size of satellite constellations, with Reuters estimating that Starlink had about 10,000 satellites in orbit. By comparison, Eutelsat's constellation comprises more than 600 satellites, according to the comparison the agency cited in its coverage of the share moves on 14 October. On user equipment, experts polled by Reuters said switching from Starlink to OneWeb requires new user terminals. The experts added that the transition also requires supporting infrastructure, alongside the terminals needed to operate the alternative service. Replacing the service, according to this assessment, involves changing the equipment used and the infrastructure supporting it, alongside the difference in the number of satellites operated by Starlink and Eutelsat.
By the evening of 14 October 2026, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said drone operators had subsequently reported an improvement in data connections while moving. He said, according to the Associated Press, that the improvement covered speeds of up to 161 kilometres per hour, or 100 miles per hour, according to the figures reported by the agency. Zelenskiy's evening account of connection performance followed Ukrainian complaints about restrictions and outages that affected the execution of missions. But a Ukrainian official told the Associated Press that the available speed remained insufficient to intercept Russian jet-powered drones. The official described that speed as "too slow to allow the interception of Russian jet-powered drones," identifying an obstacle to interception missions despite the improvement in connectivity announced by Zelenskiy.