Elon Musk's 'very useful' Starlink kept Ukrainians connected, during the Russian invasion

On February 7, 2021, a long-exposure image depicts a trail of SpaceX's Starlink satellites traveling over Uruguay as seen from the countryside near Capilla del Sauce, Florida Department, about 185 kilometers north of Montevideo. (Photo by MARIANA SUAREZ/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)

New shipments of Starlink terminals are arriving every other day, according to Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov.

According to Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's Starlink technology was "extremely efficient" in keeping Ukrainians online throughout the Russian invasion.

Fedorov, who is also Ukraine's Minister of Digital Transformation, was the one who first tweeted at Musk on Feb. 26 pleading for Starlink stations, and Musk responded that the service was operational and that more terminals were on the way, in a historic turn that could have far-reaching implications for the future of war.

In an interview with The Washington Post on Friday, Fedorov said that Ukraine has received shipments of thousands of antennas from Musk's companies and European friends, which have proven to be "extremely efficient" in keeping Ukrainian residents and government officials online.

Fedorov said, "The connectivity quality is amazing." "We use thousands of terminals, possibly tens of thousands, with new shipments arriving every other day."

Fedorov most recently tweeted on the arrival of the next shipment of Starlink stations on Friday, stating that while Russia is banning Internet access, Ukraine is "growing more open to the entire world." He expressed gratitude to Musk, the Polish government, and the Polish fuel vendor Orlen.

A new batch of Starlink stations! While Russia is blocking access to the Internet, Ukraine is becoming more open to the entire world. Ukraine is the truth. The truth always wins. Thank you, @elonmusk, the Government of Poland, and Orlen. pic.twitter.com/TP0kpn3rPS

— Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) March 18, 2022

Fedorov wrote, "Ukraine is the truth." "The truth is always victorious."

According to the Telegraph, a Ukrainian drone squad used Starlink technology to track down Russian invaders. Aerorozvidka (Aerial Reconnaissance) unit drone teams, particularly those in more rural areas, were said to be using Starlink technology to connect to intelligence databases, allowing them to plan flight paths and strikes against Russian forces and tanks on the ground, often at night, told the newspaper. 

The detailed report the drone unit benefitting from Starlink technology has not been independently verified by Fox News, and requests for comment from Tesla and SpaceX remained unanswered on Sunday. Dmitry Rogozin, the director-general of Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, had expressed his displeasure with Musk's use of "civilian" technology in a combat zone to sabotage Russian interests in Ukraine.

Following Fedorov's urgent request last month, Tesla's head of Northern Europe complimented employees in Germany for volunteering to bundle Starlink terminals for speedy delivery in an email sent Friday.

A day after his tweet to Musk, the first shipment landed in Ukraine.

Starlink Premium requires a $500 refundable deposit, as well as a $2,500 hardware price and a monthly service fee of $500. In the second quarter of 2022, premium deliveries are planned to begin. Image Credit.

SpaceX president and COO Gwynne Shotwell stated on March 7 at the California Institute of Technology that the business had been working for about six weeks to secure landing rights to launch Starlink service in Ukraine, and Fedorov's Feb. 26 authorization was the final step.

According to Space News, she stated, "We had been working on attempting to secure authorization — landing rights — to lay down capacity in Ukraine." "We'd been collaborating with the Ukrainians for about a month and a half... But then they started tweeting. We've given you our consent."

Tesla's EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) staff constructed Tesla's Powerwall units, a lithium-ion battery energy storage system that can provide backup power for Starlink terminals, according to an email obtained by CNBC. Some of the Powerwall cables were made from debris from Tesla's new Gigafactory in Berlin, Germany, which was granted conditional approval to begin manufacturing last month.

Tesla also offered Ukrainian employees up to three months' pay if they returned to their homeland to respond to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's appeal for reservists to join the war. When the invasion began, Tesla had no activities in Ukraine.

A SpaceXFalcon 9 rocket launches from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, while people watch from Canaveral National Seashore. For a broadband network, the rocket is carrying 49 Starlink internet satellites. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) | Getty Images

Although Starlink technology has enabled basic connectivity to stay online in most regions even during Russian shelling, Internet availability in Ukraine degraded the day Russia launched its invasion and has not fully recovered.

In Russian-controlled airspace, Musk said, antennas may be targets. He suggested that they be hidden and placed as far away from people as possible.

But, according to Fedorov, that hasn't been an issue because the terminals have been utilized in "densely inhabited places where there would be a lot of civilians anyway."

Starlink technology, like the possible consequences of its employment in conflict zones, is relatively new.

So far, Fedorov claims that Russian hackers haven't been able to disrupt the technology, though this is still a risk. "They appear to be concentrating their efforts right now on attacking the websites of our little towns and villages," he said. "I believe they aren't quite there yet."

Fedorov told The Washington Post that he's in talks with other European countries about sending more satellite and cellular technology in the event of widespread Internet disruptions and that his organization is working to bring Starlink terminals into areas of Ukraine where connectivity has been shut off.

From the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, SpaceX's Falcon 9 launched 53 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit on Saturday. This follows the March 9 launch of 48 Starlink satellites.

Source: Fox Business