Ukraine drone speed cap lifted

Ukraine's military drone operators can now fly at full speed without losing satellite connectivity. Defense Minister Yevhenii Khmara announced on Saturday that Starlink and Starshield connections are stable on equipment moving at more than 400 kilometers per hour, or 250 miles per hour. This development ends more than a week of restrictions that hampered drone operations against Russian forces.

Khmara credited the restoration to diplomatic efforts with Washington and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Ukraine relies heavily on satellite services provided by Elon Musk's SpaceX for communications and drone missions. While the ministry confirmed the links are working again, the specific entity that ordered the initial restrictions remains unclear. US President Donald Trump has denied responsibility for the cutoff while defending Musk.

The outage has added strain to relations between Kyiv and Washington. Tensions were already high following Trump's agreement to temporarily lift sanctions on Russian diesel and allow US imports. Earlier this month, Trump called for Ukraine to select a new president. On Monday, he suggested that someone other than Zelenskyy should negotiate for Kyiv. These exchanges follow a public confrontation between the two leaders at the White House in February 2025.

The service restoration comes as the United States attempts to revive peace negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv. Negotiators from all three nations are expected to meet in Abu Dhabi in the first half of November. This gathering is more than four years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the planned talks on Friday, while Zelenskyy agreed to technical-level meetings.

Trump also claimed his wife, Melania Trump, helped secure a local ceasefire in Oleshky, in the Kherson region. Russian forces have occupied this area since 2022. Ukrainian and Russian statements later set the ceasefire start for October 27, with a humanitarian operation scheduled for October 29.

Fighting continued on the ground during the satellite 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, local authorities said a Russian attack on Friday 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. Sloviansk Mayor Vadym Lyakh said Friday's attacks in that city killed a 62-year-old woman and wounded four others.

Ukraine reported strikes inside Russia on Friday and into Saturday. Targets included the Togliattikauchuk petrochemical plant in Togliatti, where Mayor Ilya Sukhikh confirmed industrial damage but no casualties. Ukraine also claimed a hit on the Proton electronics plant in Oryol, which produces missile components. Regional Governor Andrei Klychkov reported three deaths in an attack on an unidentified facility. Russian-occupied Crimea reported power cuts following overnight Ukrainian attacks. Russia's Defense Ministry stated its air defenses intercepted a SCALP cruise missile, four Neptune missiles, and 1,297 fixed-wing drones over 24 hours, according to TASS. These figures have not been independently verified.