Eutelsat in talks to increase satellite terminals in Ukraine amid Starlink service concern
European authorities are working with Eutelsat, a French satellite operator, to deploy more satellites in Ukraine.
A French satellite operator is working with European authorities to increase their satellite service in Ukraine, a spokesperson confirmed to Euronews Next.
“We are actively collaborating with European institutions and business partners to enable the swift deployment of additional user terminals for critical missions,” a spokesperson for Eutelsat told Euronews Next.
The news comes as European leaders met in Brussels this week and pledged to renew the bloc’s collective defence and support Ukrainian forces.
Starlink, a satellite company run by Elon Musk, has been a major player amid the war in Ukraine.
According to the Kyiv Independent, Ukraine said that approximately 42,000 Starlink internet terminals were supporting the country’s military operations, hospitals, businesses, and aid organisations.
Elon Musk, SpaceX’s CEO, has denied media reports that he threatened to shut off Starlink satellites if Ukraine did not sign a $500 billion (€477.2 billion) critical minerals deal with the United States.
‘A couple of months’ needed for 40,000 terminals
Eutelsat has more than 630 satellites moving in low-Earth orbit around the world, the company said, that offer the “same capacities” as Starlink for coverage and response time.
Eutelsat’s low-Earth satellites are already deployed in Ukraine to support “government and institutional communications,” the company said.
Eutelsat CEO Eva Berneke told Bloomberg they would need a couple of months to supply 40,000 military-grade and standard terminals to Ukraine.
The company is also considering using its 35 geostationary satellites to provide “additional capacity” over Ukraine and “stronger resilience” for the country’s connectivity
By AFP
March 9, 2025
A Ukrainian serviceman stands next to the antenna of a Starlink satellite-based broadband system in Bakhmut in February 2023 - Copyright AFP YASUYOSHI CHIBA
Billionaire industrialist and senior White House advisor Elon Musk vowed Sunday to maintain Ukraine’s access to his Starlink satellite network, after a fierce online clash with Poland’s outspoken foreign minister.
The United States has suspended military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine after a disastrous February 28 meeting between presidents Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House.
This has led to fears that Musk, a close Trump ally, might cut off Ukrainian access to his private Starlink communications system, which is used extensively by Kyiv’s frontline troops for battlefield communication.
On Sunday, during exchanges on his own X social media platform, Musk promised that this would not be the case, after an online clash with the Polish foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, that drew in US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“To be extremely clear, no matter how much I disagree with the Ukraine policy, Starlink will never turn off its terminals,” Musk wrote.
“I am simply stating that, without Starlink, the Ukrainian lines would collapse, as the Russians can jam all other communications! We would never do such a thing or use it as a bargaining chip.”
Trump’s administration is pressuring Zelensky to sign over much of Ukraine’s mineral wealth to the United States and to agree to a ceasefire with Russia without clear security guarantees as a prelude to a peace deal.
Musk supports this position and warned on Sunday that Ukraine’s “entire front line would collapse” if he turned off Starlink for Kyiv’s forces, which have been battling a full-scale Russian invasion since February 2022.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R) greets Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski at the State Department on February 21, 2025, weeks before a US-Polish spat erupted over Elon Musk’s Starlink company – Copyright ${image.metadata.node.credit}
This prompted Sikorski, in a post on X, to warn: “Starlinks for Ukraine are paid for by the Polish Digitization Ministry at the cost of about $50 million per year.
“The ethics of threatening the victim of aggression apart, if SpaceX proves to be an unreliable provider we will be forced to look for other suppliers.”
Musk responded with scorn, telling the Polish minister: “Be quiet, small man. You pay a tiny fraction of the cost. And there is no substitute for Starlink.”
Washington’s top diplomat, US Secretary of State Rubio, was also drawn in to the exchange, accusing Sikorski of “just making things up.”
“No one has made any threats about cutting Ukraine off from Starlink. And say ‘thank you’ because without Starlink Ukraine would have lost this war long ago and Russians would be on the border with Poland right now,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment