Ukraine Lifts 400 km/h Drone Speed Cap After Week of Outages

Ukraine has restored high-speed satellite connectivity for its military drones after a week of operational disruption.

Defence Minister Yevhenii Khmara announced on Saturday that Starlink and Starshield connections are stable on equipment traveling above 400 kilometres per hour, or 250 miles per hour. He attributed the resolution to negotiations with Washington and the diplomatic efforts of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The restoration ends a period where speed limits hampered drone missions against Russian forces.

The outage began more than a week ago, leaving the origin of the restrictions unclear. US President Donald Trump denied responsibility for the changes while defending the actions of Elon Musk, whose SpaceX provides the satellite services. This episode added tension to Kyiv-Washington relations, which were already strained by Trump's agreement to temporarily lift sanctions on Russian diesel and allow US imports. Earlier this month, Trump called for a new Ukrainian president and suggested that someone other than Zelenskyy should handle negotiations. These remarks followed a public confrontation between the two leaders at the White House in February 2025.

The return of service coincides with renewed peace efforts. Negotiators from Ukraine, Russia, and the United States are scheduled to meet in Abu Dhabi during the first half of November. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the talks on Friday, while Zelenskyy agreed to technical-level meetings. The summit will take place more than four years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Trump also credited First Lady Melania Trump with securing a local ceasefire in Oleshky, a town in the Kherson region occupied by Russian forces since 2022. Ukrainian and Russian officials confirmed the ceasefire began on October 27, with a humanitarian operation set for October 29.

Combat continued in other areas during the outage. A Russian missile strike on Lozova in the Kharkiv region killed one man and wounded two others on Saturday, according to Governor Oleh Syniehubov. In Chernihiv, a Friday attack killed one man and wounded at least 25 people. Donetsk officials reported that shelling in Kramatorsk killed one person and wounded six, including three children. In Sloviansk, Mayor Vadym Lyakh said Friday's attacks killed a 62-year-old woman and wounded four others.

Ukraine reported strikes inside Russia on Friday and into Saturday. These included an attack on the Togliattikauchuk petrochemical plant in Togliatti, a major synthetic rubber producer, where Mayor Ilya Sukhikh confirmed industrial damage but no casualties. Ukraine also claimed a hit on the Proton electronics plant in Oryol, which manufactures missile components. Regional Governor Andrei Klychkov reported three deaths in an attack on an unidentified facility. Authorities in occupied Crimea reported power cuts following overnight Ukrainian attacks. Russia's Defence Ministry stated that air defences intercepted one SCALP cruise missile, four Neptune missiles, and 1,297 fixed-wing drones over 24 hours, figures TASS reported that could not be independently verified.