In February 2022, SpaceX activated their Starlink satellite internet service in Ukraine, to replace internet and communication networks degraded or destroyed during the war.Elon Musk says SpaceX's Starlink satellites active over Ukraine after request from embattled country's leaders , The Independent (26 February 2022) Starlink provides critical service to Ukrainian civilians, government and military. It has aided humanitarian relief as well as defense and counterattacks on Russian positions.
Initially, SpaceX provided and funded Starlink services to Ukraine without charge. Starlink expenses for Ukraine were covered by the US Department of Defense. , Poland was the largest contributor of terminals. SpaceX did not extend Starlink availability to Russian-occupied areas such as Crimea.
In 2022, Elon Musk denied a Ukrainian request to extend Starlink's coverage up to Russian-occupied Crimea during a counterattack on a Crimean port; providing service would have violated US sanctions. Media reports erroneously characterized it as Musk "turning off" Starlink coverage in Crimea. In late 2022, SpaceX announced Starshield, a program designed for government customers.
The use of Starlink to attack Russian targets was criticized by Russian officials. Russia's military repeatedly tried to disrupt Starlink services. Reportedly, the Russian military at one point obtained Starlink terminals through other countries. This unauthorized Starlink use was eventually blocked. In February 2026, Starlink eliminated service to all terminals in Ukraine not on a whitelist, in order to prevent Russia's fraudulent Starlink use. This significantly disrupted Russian military communications, which had come to rely on Starlink.
Background Starlink is a branch of American aerospace company SpaceX. They operate a large satellite Internet constellation in low-earth orbit consisting of thousands of satellites. Starlink satellites have been launched regularly since 2019. SpaceX had been negotiating to activate Starlink service in Ukraine a month and a half before the invasion, SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said. According to her, SpaceX was waiting for formal approval when the invasion started.
In February 2022, in the early days of the Russian invasion and amidst the Battle of Kyiv, Russia was conducting conventional offensives and cyberattacks against Ukraine's communication infrastructure. On February 24, an hour before the Russian invasion, cyberattacks outed the satellite Internet company Viasat that provided communications to Ukraine. In order to defend themselves and to maintain Internet connectivity during the war, Ukrainians tried various techniques such as using commercial radios – but they could be eavesdropped upon. Eventually, Ukrainian officials deemed Starlink a potential solution. Unlike conventional satellite internet like Viasat, Starlink internet access works in a network fragmented into individual parts.
Because Starlink uses the narrow beam of the Ku and Ka bands, the Starlink antennas are physically small. Any signal that intends to jam Starlink needs a precise aim into the antenna. This requires the attacker to get close to Ukrainian troops, in visual range of the terminals. The data carried over the network is also encrypted, with software in the terminal programmed to block off signals without the encryption. If the Starlink antenna steers itself towards another Starlink satellite in view, it could point away from the jamming source. These properties prevent Starlink from being taken out by a single Russian attack.
On February 26, the Ukrainian government and Ukrainian minister Mykhailo Fedorov asked Elon Musk on Twitter to provide Starlink assistance to Ukraine. Musk agreed, and SpaceX responded by activating country-wide service, with the first shipment of Starlink terminals arriving two days later on February 28. SpaceX leadership considered Fedorov's request to be approval of their own prior requests made before the start of the war.
Those Ukrainians involved in bringing Starlink to their country "originally overlooked the significance of [Elon Musk's] personal control" over vital communications.
Civilian use
Starlink activated their service in Ukraine in February 2022 two days after it was requested to do so waiving the usual monthly subscription fee for the country. Starlink kits delivered to Ukraine included the outdoor-mounted circular or rectangular satellite dish. Detailed Starlink guides were shared online for Ukrainians after its arrival. Ukrainian regulators allowed Starlink to be used by anyone, including ordinary citizens and businesses.
Civilians have no reason to use Starlink other than in emergency and damaged regions with no good internet coverage, because Starlink is expensive by Ukrainian standards. Despite this, Ukrainian officials have declared in 2023 that Starlink was now the core of their communication infrastructure.
Ukrainian civilians have relied on Starlink to contact the outside world. Starlink's personal connectivity hotspot has been said useful for journalists, resistance groups and the elected government. Civilians in war-torn areas could gather in "points of invincibility", where they had access to internet provided by Starlink terminals, among a set of basic amenities such as water, electricity, heating and light. Starlink dishes and associated terminals can also be rigged to run off a car battery in areas without electricity.
By April 2022, Starlink was officially registered and the Ukrainian government relied on it for various communication needs. Starlink was used to transmit President Zelenskyy's broadcast and communication between Ukrainian mobile operators was back on, with telecom companies also receiving Starlink terminals for emergency connection. Ukrainian officials noted people would have had to wait several months for Internet to be restored otherwise.
Starlink has been used to run parts of Ukrainian society like schools, hospitals (which received 600 terminals in a month from SpaceX), the trains of Ukrainian Railways, operation of critical energy and telecommunications facilities, support of the sowing season, planning evacuations and return of de-occupied territories to life. Most towns on Ukrainian front lines had at least one or two Starlink terminals in October 2022, onto which civilians could connect like a public Wi-Fi network. 150,000 people were using the system every day in May 2022. Minister Fedorov remarked in 2023 that Starlink had saved lives by keeping the energy infrastructure running for doctors performing surgeries.
By June, Starlink had helped restore mobile communication in the Kyiv Oblast and had been used to report on the worsening conditions inside the city in the siege of Mariupol. At the time, Starlink was still the only means of secure civilian and military communications in cities like Lysychansk and Severodonetsk which had not had phone coverage since April. There, civilians could connect with their families while soldiers could FaceTime their spouses from their base under-attack, using the service. Later in November 2022 during the liberation of Kherson, Starlink also allowed phone and internet service to resume within a few days.
Military use by Ukraine
Starlink was first requested during the Battle of Kyiv in early 2022. Starlink is free for the Ukrainian military, and since its activation, Starlink has been used to carry out military operations in Ukraine and is still in use on all front lines as of late 2023. Starlink has been seen in use at numerous Ukrainian bases and been called "the essential backbone of communication" on Ukrainian battlefields. Most Ukrainian units have one Starlink terminal, which is sometimes camouflaged with cardboard or trash to avoid being spotted by Russian drones. In 2022, there was no official US legislative mechanism to authorize or restrain a military use of Starlink.
In March 2022, SpaceX director of Starlink operations reported that Starlink kits allowed Ukraine Armed Forces to continue operating theater command centers. These kits were vital and needed, as Russia focused on attacking Ukrainian comms infrastructure. The same month, the company provided voice connections for a Ukrainian special operations brigade. Starlink was also used to connect the Ukrainian military to the US Joint Special Operations Command. The same month, two helicopters of Operation Air Corridor carried Ukrainian Special Forces fighters, weaponry and the first Starlink terminal behind enemies lines to besieged Mariupol.
Around that time, the Ukrainian military began to use Starlink to help connect and fly drones to attack Russian forces. Starlink was also used to send back video to correct artillery fire. Starlink enabled mobile networks with encrypted group chats connecting Ukrainian commanders to their soldiers on the battlefield. The soldiers upload real-time images of potential targets while the commanders decide where to strike. Soldiers have been seen retrieving Starlink terminals from damaged areas after missile attacks. Drone-reconnaissance unit commanders drove with a Starlink terminal attached on the roof of their car. Ukrainian drone operators adapted strike drones in order to strap a Starlink terminal on them, coming up with new "life hacks" when the setup no longer worked. They suspected this use of the terminals could raise concerns from SpaceX. In April and May 2022, Starlink had key telecommunications role in the Siege of Azovstal, helping Ukrainian defenders to resist Russian troops in Mariupol. Thousands of Ukrainian troops cut off in Mariupol were able to use Starlink to send and publish online photos and videos to the outside world, before they had to surrender in May. In May 2022, a Starlink-enabled Ukrainian Internet app was the key component of a successful new artillery fire coordination system. By June 2022, Starlink was used in various ways, such as enabling the connection between Ukrainian army commanders and spotters on the roof of buildings miles away. The password for Starlink terminals were written on infrastructure for easy access.
In October 2022, Starlink services had to be requested by Ukrainian forces as new areas were liberated. Ukrainian soldiers have reportedly praised Starlink, for reasons such as preventing their army from collapsing in disarray or the war from being lost.
In March 2024, Ukraine's newly shown drone boat operated in the Black Sea while equipped with a Starlink terminal.
Starlink terminals get hot in the summer heat. The Ukrainian military cools Starlink terminals to reduce the heat signature that could be detected by Russian thermal imaging drones.
In the 2026 Starobilsk strike, Russian sources allege that the drones were controlled using Starlink, with the remains of a Starlink Mini terminal displayed amongst the wreckage.
Funding history Ukraine incurred minimal expenses for Starlink, as SpaceX, the Pentagon and other countries and entities contributed to covering the costs. The satellite service was free for the Ukrainian military. The more expensive part of the costs is not the terminals but the ongoing connectivity. The terminals themselves cost $1500 and $2500 for the two models sent to Ukraine, more expensive than the consumer models on Starlink's website. Meanwhile, service in Ukraine is just $60 per month, cheaper than the usual monthly price above $90.
Early US support for Starlink came via the USAID which spent roughly $3 million on hardware and services in Ukraine, later than March 2022 according to Shotwell. The largest single contributor of terminals is Poland with payment for almost 9,000 individual terminals. Other contributors include the UK, France, Germany, Czechia, NGOs and crowdfunding. Some volunteers and foreign companies independently purchased Starlink equipment for Ukraine.