Ukraine's Starlink access restrictions lifted after Trump intervention
World · 23 October 2026
Written by AI from multiple news reports
Ukraine lost access to Starlink military internet services around October 13, 2026. The restrictions disrupted drone operations and communications on the front line. Ukrainian commanders reported lost drones and failed missions during the outage.
US President Donald Trump announced on October 23 that Elon Musk had restored the service. Reports said Trump called Musk directly and asked him to lift the restrictions. Trump did not confirm this, but said "the bottom line, he put it back."
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said connection speeds were still not fully normal after the restoration. Musk suggested the Pentagon controls access to the military version of Starlink, but it remains unclear who ordered the original restrictions. The White House had previously denied any involvement.