The EU will help Ukraine replace Musk's Starlink

The European Commission is exploring how it can help Ukraine provide satellite communications after Elon Musk reportedly threatened to block Kyiv's access to his Starlink network, Politico reports.

Satellite communications systems are a critical tool for Ukraine, but it is not yet known whether Musk will continue to provide access to Starlink. Incidentally, Ukraine reported last year that it has about 42,000 Starlink terminals, about half of which are funded by Poland.

Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier said Kyiv had already "expressed interest" in how it could use Govsatcom — the EU's combined network of national government satellite capabilities — and IRIS², a new satellite constellation that will only be ready for operation in the 2030s.

"The Commission will pursue its contacts with Ukraine in that regard," said Regnier.

Earlier that week, French Renew MEP Christophe Grudler wrote in a letter to the EU executive that it should urgently "assess all possible alternative satellite solutions that the EU could offer Ukraine" instead of Starlink.

Grudler suggested accelerating the deployment of Govsatcom this year, skipping the certification process, as a temporary solution while IRIS² is being developed. Rainier noted that the system would provide Kyiv with “precursor governmental services,” but did not specify what exactly that would mean in practice or when it could be launched.

Other options include leveraging commercial capacity from Eutelsat, Hispasat or SES satellites already in geostationary orbit, or from the OneWeb constellation.