Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov speaks at a Nov. 3 press conference at the Web Summit 2022 event.
Horacio Villalobos Getty Images
The Ukrainian government is looking for alternatives to Starlink, the internet satellite arm of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said on Thursday.
Musk’s continued support for Starlink in Ukraine was called into question last month when the billionaire said his space venture could no longer fund the operation in Ukraine “indefinitely”. He has since said he will continue to do so.
During a press conference Thursday at the Web Summit technology conference in Lisbon, Portugal, Fedorov said he has not seen any problems with Musk’s funding of Starlink in Ukraine. The operation is currently working well, he said.
However, Fedorov, who is also Ukraine’s digital minister, said the government is looking for new means of satellite communications to support Ukraine’s IT infrastructure, which has been disrupted by Russia’s invasion. Fedorov said he had recently received reports of an outage in Ukraine after Russia launched an attack on the country’s energy infrastructure.
“We are also using other means of satellite communication,” Fedorov said. “We are working with other operators, not just SpaceX.”
“One of the reasons I came to Web Summit is to seek new partnerships and engage with new partners,” he added.
One of the alternative partners Ukraine is already working with is ICEYE, a Finnish firm that has been helping the country with its remote satellite imaging capabilities.
However, for now, it doesn’t look like Starlink will stop operating in Ukraine at this stage.
Last month, Musk said SpaceX could not continue funding the Starlink terminals in Ukraine “indefinitely.” The shock announcement came after a CNN report that his space company had asked the Pentagon to cover the costs.
Musk eventually reversed his decision to cut off the funding. “Hell,” the billionaire tweeted, “even though Starlink is still losing money and other companies are taking billions of taxpayer dollars, we’re just going to keep funding the Ukrainian government for free.”
Starlink Internet terminals donated by SpaceX have been crucial in keeping Ukraine’s military online during the war against Russia, even as communications infrastructure is destroyed. Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in late February.
Musk, who is no stranger to controversy, has been criticized for comments he has made about the war in Ukraine. In a Twitter poll, he suggested that regions illegally annexed by Russia should be allowed to hold UN-monitored referendums to decide whether they want to become part of Russia.
He also said it was his belief that the Ukrainian territory of Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, was “formally part of Russia” and should be handed over to Moscow.
In response, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hit back at Musk, taking a poll on Twitter asking “Which Elon Musk do you like best? The one who supports Ukraine [or] the one who supports Russia”.
Musk was even told by Ukraine’s outgoing ambassador to Germany to “f—off.” When asked why he wanted to withdraw funding for Starlink in Ukraine, Musk said he was “just following his own recommendation.”
Ukraine had a prominent presence at the Web Summit, where it is seeking help from public and private sector sources to strengthen its fight against Russia. Earlier in the press conference, Microsoft President Brad Smith announced a $100 million investment in technology assistance to Ukraine, bringing the company’s total contribution to the war effort to $400 million.
There has been “a new kind of hybrid warfare that combines cyber weapons and other attacks on digital technology,” Smith said.
Microsoft’s move will enable the government and other organizations in Ukraine to continue to use their services through the Microsoft cloud and our public data centers spread across Europe, Smith said.
