EU is exploring ways to help Ukraine replace Musk's Starlink terminals

The European Commission is considering how it can help Ukraine provide satellite communications amid reports that billionaire Elon Musk may cut off Ukraine's access to the Starlink network.

As reported by Politico, space-based communication systems are a critical tool for Ukraine, but it remains unclear whether Elon Musk will continue to offer Starlink in times of war.

Last year, Ukraine said it had about 42,000 Starlink terminals in operation. Poland funded about half of them.

European Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier said Kyiv had already "expressed interest" in how it could use Govsatcom – the federated network of existing EU national government satellite systems – and IRIS², a new constellation not due to be operational until the 2030s.

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

Last week, French MEP Christophe Grudler of the Renew group urged the EU executive to urgently "assess all possible alternative satellite solutions that the EU could offer Ukraine" to replace Starlink in a letter to the EU.

Grudler said that speeding up Govsatcom's deployment this year by skipping the certification process could be a temporary solution while IRIS² is developed. Rainier said the system would offer Kyiv "precursor governmental services", without specifying what this would mean in practice or how soon it could be operational.

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

In late February, Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digitalisation Krzysztof Gawkowski confirmed that Warsaw would continue to support Starlink satellite communications in Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier that the United States had not dropped any hints about Starlink terminals in Ukraine potentially being shut down, but that it was necessary to prepare for this.