Elon Musk Activates Starlink Service In Ukraine Amid Internet Disruption

SpaceX founder, Elon Musk said the company’s Starlink satellite internet service has been activated in Ukraine as the Russian invasion disrupted internet services.

Gatekeepers News reports that Musk’s made this known via a tweet after a Ukrainian government official pleaded for Starlink stations.

“While you try to colonize Mars — Russia try to occupy Ukraine! While your rockets successfully land from space — Russian rockets attack Ukrainian civil people! We ask you to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations and to address sane Russians to stand,” tweeted Mykhailo Fedorov, the vice prime minister of Ukraine and minister of digital transformation.

Musk, in response, tweeted:  “Starlink service is now active in Ukraine. More terminals en route.”

Starlink is the company’s growing network of private, orbital satellites that aims to provide internet connections to everyone on the planet. The prototype satellites launched into orbit in 2018 and the company has since deployed nearly 2,000 Starlink satellites into orbit across dozens of successful launches.

The satellite-based service provides an alternative to land-based systems that can often be difficult to deploy in remote areas or are otherwise vulnerable to interruption by military action or natural disaster.

According to reports, GigaTrans, Ukraine’s main internet provider, witnessed a drop in connectivity to below 20 percent of normal levels before returning to higher levels in the early hours of Friday morning.

“We currently observe national connectivity at 87 percent of ordinary levels, a figure that reflects service disruptions as well as population flight and the shuttering of homes and businesses since the morning of the 24th,” Alp Toker, director of NetBlocks, told Reuters.

“While there is no nation-scale blackout, little is being heard from the worst affected regions, and for others there’s an ever-present fear that connectivity could worsen at any moment, cutting off friends and family.’

”A disruption to Ukraine’s telecommunication networks could affect civilian defense groups that have been mobilising to defend their cities.”