Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday thanked billionaire Elon Musk for supporting his country with the Starlink satellite Internet service, Belga News Agency reports.
“Talked to Elon Musk,” President Zelensky tweeted after a conversation with the SpaceX CEO. “I’m grateful to him for supporting Ukraine with words and deeds. Next week we will receive another batch of Starlink systems for destroyed cities.”
President Zelensky also said they “discussed possible space projects”. “But I’ll talk about this after the war,” he added.
Starlink will help Ukrainians access the Internet if telecommunication networks are down or destroyed as a result of the armed conflict. The satellite service consists of transmitting Internet data from space using radio signals. Ground stations transmit the signals to the orbiting satellites which then relay the data to users on Earth.
Musk, whose SpaceX corporation is a communications company, provider of space transport services and aerospace manufacturer, announced last week that the service had been activated in Ukraine following Internet outages in parts of the country due to Russian attacks.
His announcement had come in response to a call for help from Ukraine’s deputy prime minister and minister for digital transformation, Mykhailo Federov, after Russia invaded his country.
“Elon Musk, while you try to colonize Mars – Russia [tries] to occupy Ukraine! While your rockets successfully land from space – Russian rockets attack Ukrainian civil people!” Federov wrote in a post on Twitter. “We ask you to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations…”
