BRUSSELS – EU leaders grappled on Oct 16 with how to tackle Ukraine’s dependence on Starlink satellite communications supporting its battlefield operations, as Kyiv was rocked by disruptions to the US-owned system.
The bloc’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Europe did not have a readily available alternative to technology controlled by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, as she arrived at an EU summit where the issue will be high on the agenda.
“Starlink is really necessary for Ukraine and unfortunately in (the) short term Europe can’t replace this capability,” Kallas said before the talks, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was also in attendance.
Ukraine uses Starshield, Starlink’s military-grade satellite service, for its battlefield communications, mid-range strikes on Russian-occupied territory and interceptor drones.
It also uses SpaceX’s parallel Starlink civilian satellite system, but not for offensive operations.
Musk has shifted stance on Ukraine several times since Russia’s invasion in 2022.
Kyiv reported restrictions on its use of the Starlink system this week. Musk said any disruption was the responsibility of the US government, not his SpaceX firm.
Kallas said the European Defence Agency had mapped all the “critical capabilities” that Europe was missing and needed to fulfil, adding Europe needed to fill these gaps “as soon as possible”.
European leaders echoed the urgency for Europe to build its capacities.
“Starlink is the key for Ukraine actually to fight or fight back,” Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs told reporters.
“It takes time for us to have the same capabilities. We do have, but not enough. So this is strategically something we have to discuss today.”
Zelensky was taking part in the leaders’ talks with Ukraine and Europe’s own security and defence on the agenda.
Also addressing the Starlink issue, Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten said he had discussed with French President Emmanuel Macron on Oct 15 “how we, as Europeans, can provide more of these kinds of services in the not too distant future”.
Speeds were slower on the system on Oct 14, affecting connectivity, according to Ukrainian officials, who have suggested Washington was behind slower speeds reported on some Starlink internet terminals.
British defence minister Wes Streeting also said he discussed Starlink with his US counterpart Pete Hegseth on Oct 15.
“It’s not yet clear to us in the UK what happened, why the service interruption occurred. But I am reassured, and was reassured directly by Secretary Hegseth, that the service has been restored,” he told the BBC on Oct 16. AFP