Fedorov Confident Elon Musk Will Continue To Help Through Starlink, But Ukraine Needs Additional Internet Service

Deputy prime minister of Ukraine, Mykhailo Fedorov, is still confident in Elon Musk's commitment. (photo: twitter @Fedorov Mykhailo)

JAKARTA – The Ukrainian government believes that Elon Musk will continue to provide internet access via the Starlink satellite system of the rocket company SpaceX. Even though the intention of the richest man in the world last month had wavered. Therefore, the country that is at war with Russia is looking for additional internet service providers.

Ukraine's deputy prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov, on Thursday, November 3 in Portugal at Europe's largest technology conference, the Lisbon Web Summit, said Ukraine had discussed Starlink directly with Musk and was confident Tesla and Twitter bosses would not shut down services in Ukraine.

"Starlink has worked, is working, and will definitely work in Ukraine," Fedorov said.

"Elon Musk has spoken openly about this and we have spoken to him about it, so we don't see a problem in this," the official, who also holds the position of Ukraine's digital transformation minister, told a Web Summit press conference.

SpaceX has already activated Starlink in Ukraine after the Russian invasion in February. It has since provided Kyiv with thousands of terminals, allowing Ukrainians to connect to the internet in places where the domestic telecommunications system cannot reach. The facility is used both by civilians and by the Ukrainian military.

Last month Musk tweeted that SpaceX would no longer be able to provide services to Ukraine indefinitely. But two days later he revised his statement saying he would continue to do so as an example of "good deeds".

Around the same time, some Ukrainians complained about internet service outages near the frontline, while Musk also angered Ukrainian officials by promoting a peace plan under which Ukraine would cede some territory to Russia.

Fedorov said the Russian attack had crippled 40% of Ukraine's energy infrastructure in October and had raised awareness of the importance of maintaining communications systems.

"One of the reasons I came to this Web Summit is also to find new partners and continue to grow and engage with new partners," he said.

"Communication is very important," he said. "We are dealing with this problem 24 hours a day. Russia is hitting the energy infrastructure and sometimes we don't have lights in the house for eight hours."

Fedorov spoke at a joint press conference with Microsoft President Brad Smith, who announced an estimated $100 million in additional technology assistance for Ukraine throughout 2023.

"This will enable the government and other organizations in Ukraine to continue to run their services and serve Ukrainian citizens through the Microsoft Cloud and our public data centers spread across Europe," said Smith.