Fire Point CEO Says Its Weapons Can Strike Without Starlink Links

Iryna Terekh, chief executive of Ukrainian missile and drone maker Fire Point, said in an interview with Reuters that her company has developed a way to carry out long-range strikes inside Russia and Russian-held territory without satellite communications. She declined to describe the technical solutions, saying only that the systems were designed for that condition.

Terekh said navigation without an outside signal is a company priority. "We have built with this in mind. Fire Point systems are designed to finish a mission without a satellite link," she said, adding: "We found a way to technologically overcome this challenge, but this only covers probably 15 to 20% of what we could do if the Starlink was working (over Russia)."

The remarks follow weeks of disruption to satellite service for Ukrainian forces. On 19 October, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Starlink and Starshield equipment had stopped functioning at speeds of 130 to 161 km/h in parts of the front, affecting logistics and limiting drone use. Two days later, after reports of the slowdown circulated, SpaceX owner Elon Musk wrote on X: "Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS."

The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk ordered the slowdown on the military version of Starlink provided to Ukraine, rendering some Ukrainian strike and interceptor drones effectively unusable. On 22 October, the newspaper reported that President Donald Trump had called Musk and asked him to lift restrictions on Starshield in Ukraine. On 24 October, Musk said the Ukrainian military had violated the terms of use for the communications system, and that if Starlink were switched off, "the Ukrainian front line would collapse immediately".

Zelenskyy has said he believes the publicity around the restrictions helped return Starlink to the required speed. Terekh's account of working around the loss of satellite links puts a manufacturer's own assessment on record: her systems can operate without them, at a fraction of their normal reach.

Fire Point has not disclosed which systems carry the capability or how many are in service. Terekh said the company built its technology with satellite-independent navigation in mind.