'Serious blow': Ukraine commander fears loss of Elon Musk's Starlink

Elon Musk

Few took Elon Musk's tweeted threat to stop funding Starlink in Ukraine as seriously as the commander in charge of communications along much of the southern front. The world's richest man last month took to his favourite social media platform -- which he has since bought -- to wonder why he should keep providing Ukraine with free satellite internet service. The temperamental mega-billionaire appeared to change his mind a few days later. "The hell with it," Musk wrote after his initial threat created a geopolitical furore and underscored the Pentagon's growing dependence on private space technology. "Even though Starlink is still losing money and other companies are getting billions of taxpayer dollars, we'll just keep funding the Ukrainian government for free." Major Roman Omelchenko is still not sure if Musk's second tweet was ironic or if he really did intend to keep paying for the Ukrainian army's main line of communication. He just knows that Starlink's loss would leave him scrambling during the brewing battle for Kherson. "If we lose it, it will be a serious blow to our means of communication," the 59th brigade's communications chief said in an interview conducted at a secret location along the southern front. "It would be very difficult without it."

Cult status

Musk gained cult status in Ukraine by sending in thousands of Starlink terminals in the first days of Russia's invasion. Ukraine now has 20,000 of the little white dishes hidden away across the war zone. Their role became even more important when Russia began to target Ukraine's key infrastructure with long-range missile strikes. A loss of power usually shuts down most cell phone service and complicates even basic communications on the ground. The only other alternatives for soldiers are walkie-talkies and older types of satellites dishes that take much more time and effort to set up. "We still have those in reserve," Omelchenko said of the older technology. "But you have to keep tuning it constantly. Starlink tunes itself. You don't have to do it manually. It is very simple and very powerful."

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