SpaceX helped Ukraine keep its internet online by sending the country’s government a shipment of Starlink terminals that reportedly reached their destination just two days after they were sent. This was prompted by the nation’s Vice Prime Minister and Minister for Digital Transformation, Mykhail Feodorov, who mentioned Elon Musk in a tweet specifically about Starlink stations.
The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX replied to Feodorov later that same day by saying the terminals were already on their way to Ukraine. Now we have reports that yet more Starlink shipments will be sent to for Ukraine, this being confirmed during a video call between president Volodymyr Zelensky and Elon Musk.
Zelensky even invited Musk to visit Ukraine after the war, and Elon did no shy away from accepting the invitation. Apparently, he told Musk that SpaceX and Ukraine could collaborate on future space projects, although they did not elaborate more on what specifically they were talking about.
Musk accepted the invitation on video, saying
Sounds good, I look forward to visiting.
After his talk with Musk, Zelensky tweeted on his personal account and said that he
Talked to Elon Musk. 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. Discussed possible space projects. But I’ll talk about this after the war.
Naturally, Russia was not pleased that Ukraine was able to reconnect itself to the internet with outside help and Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the Russian space agency, called Musk out for taking sides in this conflict. Rogozin later went on to say that the Russian Space Agency would stop cooperating with western space organizations for this and all the sanctions that have been imposed against the Russian Federation since it invaded Ukraine. He said
We will closely monitor the actions of our American partners and, if they continue to be hostile, we will return to the question of the existence of the International Space Station.
