The European Commission is looking into how it can help Ukraine secure satellite communications capacity after Elon Musk reportedly threatened to cut off Ukraine's access to his Starlink network, Politico reports, UNN writes.
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Space-based communication systems are a critical tool for Ukraine, but it remains unclear whether Musk will continue to offer Starlink as the war continues, the publication writes.
Last year, Ukraine said it has about 42,000 Starlink terminals in operation; about half are financed by Poland.
European Commission spokesman Thomas Rainier said Kyiv has already "expressed interest" in how it can use Govsatcom, the EU's federated network of existing national government satellite capabilities, and IRIS², a new group not expected to be operational until the 2030s.
"The Commission will continue its contacts with Ukraine in this regard," Renier said.
Earlier this week, MEP Christophe Grudler of France's Renew party told the EU executive body in a letter that it should urgently "evaluate all possible alternative satellite solutions that the EU can offer Ukraine" to replace Starlink.
Grudler said that speeding up Govsatcom's rollout this year by skipping the certification process could work as a temporary solution while IRIS² is developed. Renier said the system offers Kyiv "preliminary government services," without specifying what that would be in practice or how soon it might be operational.
Other options are to obtain commercial power from Eutelsat, Hispasat or SES satellites already in geostationary orbit or from the OneWeb group, the publication writes.