No lifting of the cap, officials say

Ukrainian officials said on Friday morning that Starlink speeds remained capped at about 100mph, with no indication that the restrictions had been lifted. Their message directly contradicted Donald Trump's claim that Elon Musk had put the restrictions back in place and then removed them.

Serhii Beskrestnov, a military expert who advises Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said isolated cases of slightly higher speeds were likely the result of SpaceX's algorithms or specific conditions of use, rather than any lifting of the restrictions.

Trump's claim meets the reality on the ground

Trump spoke on Thursday about reports that he had personally called Musk to demand the restrictions be lifted. "I don't comment one way or the other," he said, adding: "The bottom line: he put it back".

The slowdown itself began last week, after Trump and Starlink founder Musk publicly criticised Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, over continued strikes on Russian oil refineries. Both men have denied responsibility for the restrictions, leaving open who ordered the slowdown.

What the cap still blocks for Ukraine's forces

The lingering cap matters because Ukrainian military equipment, drones included, cannot hold a connection while moving at speed. Ukrainian forces continued to report widespread disruptions on Friday, meaning offensive drone missions and the interception of incoming Russian attacks both remain constrained.

Strained ties and the talks ahead

The slowdown, along with Zelenskyy's complaints that Washington temporarily suspended intelligence-sharing with Kyiv, has pushed relations between Ukraine and the US to a new low. Tensions flared after Washington lifted sanctions on Russia and began importing Russian diesel, which Trump sought to bring down US energy prices before the midterm elections. Maritime tracking data showed the first tanker carrying Russian diesel was en route to New York on Thursday.

Moscow said a fresh round of US-brokered talks aimed at ending the war could take place next month, as Russia launched another overnight barrage against Ukraine. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and the US were expected to resume in Abu Dhabi in November.

• •Previous rounds of negotiations have failed to produce a breakthrough
• •Russia's demands include Ukraine withdrawing forces from eastern territory it still controls, drastically reducing the size of its military and adopting a neutral status that would rule out Nato membership

Speaking to Russian state television late on Thursday, Putin again questioned Ukraine's sovereignty: "The lands lost by Kyiv are not their territory, they are Russia's historical lands". He cited unspecified genetic research to claim Russians and Ukrainians were "one people" and said Moscow would achieve all the objectives of its full-scale invasion.

Peskov's Friday remarks came after previous rounds failed to produce a breakthrough, with Moscow and Kyiv far apart over peace settlement terms.