Ukraine Confirms Drone Satellite Links Restored After Weeklong Outage

Ukraine’s defence ministry announced on Saturday that satellite connections for military drones have been fully restored. Defence Minister Yevhenii Khmara stated that Starlink and Starshield services are stable on equipment traveling at speeds exceeding 400 kilometres per hour, or 250 miles per hour. This development ends a period of disruption that lasted more than a week and hampered drone operations against Russian forces.

Khmara attributed the resolution to diplomatic efforts by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and ongoing talks with Washington. Ukraine relies heavily on satellite services provided by Elon Musk’s SpaceX for communications and drone missions. Despite the restoration, the origin of the initial restrictions remains unclear. US President Donald Trump has denied responsibility for the cutoff while defending his relationship with Musk.

The outage added tension to the relationship between Kyiv and Washington. Relations were already strained by Trump’s recent agreement to temporarily lift sanctions on Russian diesel and allow US imports. Earlier in the month, Trump called for Ukraine to have a new president and suggested that someone other than Zelenskyy should handle negotiations for Kyiv. These exchanges followed a public confrontation between the two leaders at the White House in February 2025.

The restoration of service coincides with efforts by the United States to revive peace negotiations. Negotiators from Ukraine, Russia, and the US are expected to meet in Abu Dhabi in the first half of November. This would be the first formal meeting in over four years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the planned talks on Friday, and Zelenskyy agreed to technical-level meetings.

Trump also credited his wife, 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 stated that the ceasefire began on October 27, with a humanitarian operation scheduled for October 29. Fighting continued in other areas during the same period.

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 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 attacks in his city killed a 62-year-old woman and wounded four people on Friday.

Ukraine reported strikes inside Russia on Friday and into Saturday. These included an attack on the Togliattikauchuk petrochemical plant in Togliatti, a major producer of synthetic rubber. Mayor Ilya Sukhikh confirmed industrial damage but no casualties. Ukraine also said it hit the Proton electronics plant in Oryol, which produces missile components. Regional Governor Andrei Klychkov reported three deaths at an unidentified facility. Russia’s Defence Ministry said its air defences intercepted a SCALP cruise missile, four Neptune missiles, and 1,297 fixed-wing drones over 24 hours.