Finnish president urges Musk to enable Starlink over Russia for Ukraine

Finnish President Alexander Stubb said he had urged SpaceX owner Elon Musk to expand Starlink satellite internet coverage to Russian territory to enable Ukraine to target Russian ballistic missile launchers.

Speaking to Reuters in New York, Stubb said Ukraine was facing an acute shortage of air defences ahead of winter and argued that access to Starlink in areas where Russian missile launchers are located could help save lives.

“That's why ... I plead that Elon Musk would give the Ukrainians the possibility to use Starlink in areas where there are ballistic missile launchers, either in the occupied territory of Ukraine or in Russia for strategic purposes because that would save lives,” Stubb said.

Starlink has been available in Ukraine since shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022 and has become a key tool for Ukrainian battlefield communications and drone operations. The service does not currently operate over Russian territory.

Stubb said Ukraine would need three key forms of support as winter approaches: air defenses, energy infrastructure and financial assistance.

“One is air defences and even Starlink would be to a certain extent a good air defense there. And the second one is energy installations for the winter.”

“The third one is money. So those are the things that we're working on. We're working on putting up a winter package because I don't see the war ending, you know, before the winter.”

Stubb also backed renewed US-led peace efforts between Moscow and Kyiv, saying an unconditional ceasefire should precede negotiations on security, territory, reconstruction and compensation.

“I still think that the easiest solution would be to call an unconditional ceasefire, basically stop the killing, as President Trump reiterated in his speech in the UN General Assembly,” he said.

According to Stubb, the conflict could potentially be frozen along the line of contact with 30-kilometre buffer zones on both sides. He added that another option would be a partial ceasefire covering energy and grain-related targets.

By Vafa Guliyeva