United Kingdom

London, 15 October 2026. The British press initially treated the episode as a military capability breakdown. The BBC reports that on Tuesday night, SpaceX capped the speed of devices connected to Starlink at 160 km/h without informing Kyiv. Serhiy Beskrestnov, an advisor to Volodymyr Zelensky, wrote on Telegram that the measure had caused "the disruption of several missions" and that "it cannot be a coincidence". SpaceX has not commented.

The BBC details the stakes. Starlink allows Ukrainian drones to remain in contact with their operators over long distances, with less exposure to jamming than classic radio networks. According to the Institute for the Study of War, limiting these devices makes Russian intercept drone efforts "almost useless". George Barros, from the ISW, describes Starlink as the "backbone of Ukrainian military communications" and notes that there is no immediate replacement.

Elon Musk responded on X that Starshield, the military version of Starlink, is controlled by the US government and that any speed or usage limit is decided by the US military and, ultimately, by the president. On Wednesday evening, former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov reported a partial restoration and called for the complete lifting of the speed limit. Zelensky told British media that he hopes for "a mistake" or "a huge technical problem".

The Independent puts the cut in the political sequence. Polish Minister Radoslaw Sikorski called out Musk on X: "We are watching you." The newspaper notes that Ukraine suffered ballistic missiles without American warning for a second night, despite the "energy ceasefire" claimed by Donald Trump. In a direct quote, Zelensky, who says he feels "betrayed" after the easing of sanctions on Russian diesel, tells Piers Morgan: "It's painful when President Trump chooses a side, not ours", and announces to the Financial Times, in an interview published on Thursday, the resumption of strikes on Russian refineries: "The blockade is lifted."