Horacio Villalobos Getty Images The Ukrainian government is looking for alternatives to Starlink, the satellite internet arm of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said on Thursday. Musk’s continued support for Starlink in Ukraine was called into question last month when the billionaire said his space company could no longer finance the operation in Ukraine “indefinitely”. He has since said he will continue to do so. During a press conference Thursday at the Web Summit technology conference in Lisbon, Portugal, Fedorov said he has seen no problems with Musk’s funding of Starlink in Ukraine. The operation is currently working well, he said. But Fedorov, who is also Ukraine’s digital technology minister, said the government is looking for new satellite communications tools to support Ukraine’s IT infrastructure, which has been disrupted by the Russian invasion. Fedorov said he recently received reports of blackouts in Ukraine as Russia launched an attack on the country’s energy infrastructure. “We also use other satellite communication tools,” Fedorov said. “We work with other operators, not just SpaceX.” “One of the reasons I came to Web Summit is to look for new partnerships and work with new partners,” he added. One of the alternative partners Ukraine already works with is ICEYE, a Finnish company that helps the country with remote satellite imaging capabilities. For now, however, it doesn’t look like Starlink will stop operating in Ukraine at this stage. Last month, Musk said SpaceX could not continue to fund Starlink terminals in Ukraine “indefinitely.” The shock announcement came after CNN reported that his space company had asked the Pentagon to cover the cost. Eventually Musk reversed his decision to stop funding. “To hell with it,” the billionaire tweeted, “even though Starlink is still losing money and other companies are taking billions of taxpayer dollars, we’re just going to keep funding the Ukrainian government for free.” Starlink internet terminals donated by SpaceX have been vital in keeping Ukraine’s military online during the war against Russia, even when the communications infrastructure is destroyed. Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in late February. Musk, no stranger to controversy, has been criticized for comments he made about the war in Ukraine. In a Twitter poll, he suggested that territories illegally annexed by Russia should be allowed to hold referendums under UN supervision to decide whether they wish to become part of Russia. He also said he believed the Ukrainian territory of Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, was “officially part of Russia” and should be handed over to Moscow. In response, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired back at Musk, running his own poll on Twitter asking “Which Elon Musk do you like best? The one who supports Ukraine [or] the one who supports Russia”. Musk even told the outgoing ambassador of Ukraine to Germany to “block”. When pressed about why he wanted to withdraw funding for Starlink in Ukraine, Musk said he was “just following his recommendation.” Ukraine had a notable presence at the Web Summit, where it is seeking help from public and private sector sources to bolster its fight against Russia. Earlier in the press conference, Microsoft President Brad Smith announced a $100 million investment in technology assistance for Ukraine, bringing the company’s total contribution to the war effort to $400 million. There was “a new type of hybrid warfare that combines cyber weapons and other digital technology attacks,” Smith said. Microsoft’s move “will allow the government and other organizations in Ukraine to continue to run their services through the Microsoft cloud and our public data centers spread across Europe,” Smith said.
