US President Donald Trump called Elon Musk and asked him to lift restrictions on Ukraine's use of Starlink, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing US officials.
The Starlink system was working more normally on Thursday, shortly after the Trump-Musk conversation, according to US and Ukrainian officials cited by the WSJ.
Some Ukrainian officials told the newspaper the system was not restored to full functionality but was working at higher speeds than under the cap.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said earlier on Thursday that Starlink speed had not been restored for Ukraine, adding that he hoped for talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the coming days.
Trump told Musk he was frustrated the system's speeds remained capped at around 100 mph (160 kph), the Journal said, citing officials.
Rubio said on Wednesday that decisions regarding Ukraine's access to Starlink were up to its parent company SpaceX and its CEO Musk, not the White House.
Starlink restrictions hamper Ukraine's drone operations
Ukraine uses Starlink for battlefield communications and drone operations. Restricting the satellite service hampered the country's attack and air defense drone missions against Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that Russia hit Kyiv overnight with three ballistic missiles carrying cluster munition warheads.
Zelensky said the missiles were designed to detonate in the air as they approached their targets, spreading damage across an area 400 meters wide. He added that one of them struck Kyiv's historic district, hitting the area near the monastic buildings of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry reported at least four deaths in the strikes, while President Volodymyr Zelensky said 34 others were wounded, including five children, according to CBS News.
The attacks came just hours after Russia freed American citizen Stephen Hubbard and US special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he described as a humanitarian.
Ukraine's energy facilities hit over 170 times since October 11
He also said that Russia had kept targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure with more than 170 strikes on critical energy facilities since October 11.
Cluster munitions are prohibited in more than 100 countries under the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions. The weapons release multiple smaller explosives across large areas, putting civilians at risk both during attacks and afterward, when unexploded bomblets can remain dangerous. Neither Russia nor the US is a party to the treaty.