El Pais: Ukraine has alternative for Elon Musk's Starlink but can't refuse it now

Ukraine has an alternative to businessman Elon Musk's Starlink satellite network, but for the time being it considers it impossible to refuse the services of the US entrepreneur's company, El Pais has said.

The newspaper notes that Starlink is the backbone of the Ukrainian armed forces' communications.

SpaceX transferred the first batch of Starlink stations to Ukraine in February 2022. However, in February this year, SpaceX restricted the Ukrainian military's access to Starlink to control drones.

Elon Musk has previously stated his unwillingness to intervene in the conflict. Nevertheless, the US authorities promised the Ukrainian side that SpaceX "will not leave it in trouble". Ukraine hopes that the guarantee provided by Washington will not be violated, El Pais wrote.

In early September, Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry's main intelligence department, said that the Ukrainian army was using Starlink connectivity terminals all along the front line. The Ukrainian Ministry of Digital Transformation estimates that about 42,000 Starlink terminals are used in the country.