Kyiv confirms satellite links restored for high-speed military drones

Satellite connectivity for Ukraine's military drones has returned after a week of interruptions. Defence Minister Yevhenii Khmara announced on Saturday that Starlink and Starshield signals are now stable on platforms traveling faster than 400 kilometers per hour.

Khmara attributed the resolution to diplomatic efforts by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and subsequent talks with Washington. The restoration addresses a critical dependency, as Ukrainian forces rely heavily on SpaceX infrastructure for command, control, and drone missions.

The exact originator of the restrictions remains unconfirmed. US President Donald Trump has denied direct responsibility for the outage while publicly supporting Elon Musk. This period of disruption added friction to relations between Kyiv and Washington, which face other pressures from recent agreements on Russian diesel sanctions and US import terms.

The return of service coincides with renewed peace efforts. Negotiators from Ukraine, Russia, and the United States are scheduled to meet in Abu Dhabi in early November. This gathering marks the first high-level contact in over four years since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the agenda on Friday, while Zelenskyy agreed to technical-level discussions.

Local diplomatic progress was also reported in the south. Trump credited First Lady Melania Trump with securing a temporary ceasefire in Oleshky, a Kherson region settlement occupied by Russian forces since 2022. Ukrainian and Russian officials set the start of the truce for October 27, with a humanitarian operation planned for October 29.

Combat operations continued during the outage and its aftermath. A missile strike on Lozova in Kharkiv region killed one person and injured two on Saturday, according to Governor Oleh Syniehubov. In northern Chernihiv, an attack on Friday resulted in one death and at least 25 injuries. In Donetsk, shelling in Kramatorsk killed one civilian and wounded six, including three children, while Mayor Vadym Lyakh reported a 62-year-old woman killed and four others wounded in Sloviansk.

Ukraine reported strikes on Russian industrial targets on Friday and overnight into Saturday. These included the Togliattikauchuk petrochemical plant in Togliatti and the Proton electronics facility in Oryol. Russian air defenses claimed to have intercepted a SCALP cruise missile, four Neptune missiles, and 1,297 fixed-wing drones within 24 hours, figures that TASS reported were not independently verified.