SpaceX shipment of Starlink satellite internet dishes arrives in Ukraine, government official says

A shipment of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet dishes arrived in Ukraine on Monday, less than 48 hours after CEO Elon Musk announced the company would send support, according to a top official in the nation’s government.

Ukraine digital minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who tagged Musk in a request on Twitter on Saturday, posted that Starlink was “here” in Ukraine – with a photo showing more than dozen boxes of the company’s user kits in the back of a truck. How many kits SpaceX is sending to support Ukraine is unknown.

Each Starlink kit includes a user terminal to connect to the satellites, a mounting tripod and a Wi-Fi router.

Musk responded to Fedorov, said: “you are most welcome.”

Ukraine-based Oleg Kutkov tweeted a screenshot of an internet speed test, saying “Starlink is working in Kyiv” and thanked SpaceX for the company’s support.

Musk emphasized on Saturday that Starlink was already “active in Ukraine.” Fedorov’s plea for assistance came after a suspected cyber attack disrupted the satellite internet service of Viasat – although the number of customers affected by the latter company’s outage is unknown.

SpaceX has launched 2,000 Starlink satellites to date to support its global network. The company’s service has around 145,000 users as of January, who pay $99 a month for the standard service or $500 a month for a premium tier.