The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, highlighted this Saturday the full recovery of the service of the Starlink and Starshield satellite Internet systems, essential for the defense and military operations of the country, confirming that "they have been restored to the speeds they had before the restrictions," limitations imposed by the magnate Elon Musk, who accused Kiev of using his technology for exclusively military purposes.
"The most important thing today is that the operations of Starlink and Starshield have been restored to the speeds we had before all the restrictions. The speeds are now the necessary ones (...) This is of vital importance: for our logistics on the front line, to defend Ukraine from air attacks," celebrated the Ukrainian leader, emphasizing the direct impact of this improvement on the front.
For Zelensky, what happened is "fundamental" to "protect the lives" of millions of Ukrainians and he insisted on the need to "continue communicating with their partners to also restore other levels of cooperation with the United States," a relationship strained by the recent criticisms of President Donald Trump towards him.
"It is essential that the deliveries of air defense interceptors, interceptors against Russian ballistic missiles, resume. There are packages that we are still waiting for, both from the United States and from European partners, packages on which political decisions have already been made," he emphasized, demanding that the already approved shipments materialize.
The return to normal service of Starlink ends several weeks of strong friction, after Kiev demanded its immediate reactivation following the restrictions that forced the Ukrainian Armed Forces to halt various military operations due to lack of secure connectivity.
Although Zelensky avoided directly mentioning Donald Trump or Elon Musk, he did request official clarifications from both the businessman and the U.S. Administration. Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied that Washington had ordered the system to be blocked, dissociating the Government from the interruption of the service.
The failures in the network occurred after the United States pressured Ukraine to stop its attacks on Russian refineries, in the context of an understanding between Washington and Moscow to ease sanctions on diesel. Zelensky rejected that request considering that the Kremlin did not offer any real counterpart.