When Wes Streeting landed in Washington this week, his mission was as much about mending trust as about military aid. The UK defence secretary told reporters he had been “reassured directly” by his American counterpart, Pete Hegseth, that the Starlink satellite service has been restored for Ukraine following a row that unsettled Kyiv and its European allies. The visit was designed to cool tensions and keep the transatlantic alliance focused on backing Ukraine.
The reassurance matters because Starlink is not an optional convenience for Ukraine’s military; it is the backbone of its battlefield communications. Drones, artillery coordination and secure command links run through terminals provided by SpaceX. When the service was curtailed, the impact was immediate and severe: a single commercial network, owned by a single company, now plays a part in a major war that no state can easily replace.
That is the deeper story beneath the headlines. The row was never only about a satellite system. It exposed how much of Ukraine’s resilience now depends on decisions made in Washington — and, in practice, on the disposition of one private company and one administration’s political calculations. European allies watching from the side have been forced to confront an uncomfortable question: if reassurance must be sought trip after trip, can it really be called reliability?
The answer is not to abandon the alliance, but to recognise that dependence of this kind is a structural vulnerability. Ukraine has already pressed for European satellite alternatives and expanded domestic drone production — exactly the right instinct. Redundancy, interoperable capabilities and contracts with multiple providers should be the standard, not a contingency plan.
None of this diminishes the genuine value of the restoration. Ukrainian troops will benefit immediately, and Streeting’s visit appears to have achieved its short-term objective. But the episode should be read as a warning rather than a closing chapter. In war, the most dangerous fragility is not the enemy’s strength but reliance on goodwill — corporate or political — that can be withdrawn without notice. Ensuring these systems remain accountable to those who depend on them is not just good policy; it is the only durable defence.