USA has its own, Ukraine has its own. What about this Starlink?

"Currently, we do not record the lifting of restrictions on the operation of Starlink. There are isolated cases when the Starlink terminal can move at a speed slightly exceeding the set limit, but this is probably the result of the SpaceX algorithm or special conditions of use, and not the lifting of the restriction," Serhiy Beskrestnov, advisor to President Volodymyr Zelensky for defense technologies, wrote on Friday in the Telegram messenger.

The Interfax-Ukraine agency reported, citing sources at the Ministry of Defense in Kiev, that cases of loss of communication at a speed of 161 km/h are still being recorded. Such cases were still observed on Friday morning.

Trump: Elon Musk lifted the speed limit for Starlink

On Thursday, US President Donald Trump said that Elon Musk (head of Space X, which owns Starlink) has already lifted the speed limit for Starlink and its military version - Starshield - in Ukraine.

However, he did not want to say whether he personally called Musk about this matter, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. This is a very interesting situation. I don't want to comment on it (...), it doesn't matter whether it was me or someone else who called, Trump said.

Ukrainians started reporting problems with Starlink in mid-October. The service "broke down" when the machines using it reached the mentioned speed of 161 km/h.

Why is the 161 km/h limit important?

Starlink and its military version Starshield provide access to satellite Internet. In the war he serves, among others, to transmit images from drones, issue orders and coordinate units, transmit data about targets or maintain communication during disruptions and destruction of ground infrastructure.

The Ukrainians also use Starlinks in fast attack and interceptor drones. If these types of machines cannot connect to the Internet while flying faster than 160 km/h, this de facto means that they are less precise or completely ineffective.

Ukraine also has other types of communications, but Starlink/Starshield provide a relatively fast, mobile and damage-resistant connection on a large scale. In the case of a remote attack, the link allows for a simplified model: "I see - I decide - I correct." Without it, the model is more often: "I program before the start and hope that the situation will not change."

The lack of full control over satellite communications was also to be felt by the Ukrainians four years ago, in the first year of the war. Space X was then intended to prevent an offensive against the Russian fleet stationed in occupied Crimea.