SpaceX CEO Elon Musk yesterday warned that Starlink user terminals in Ukraine could be targeted by Russia and advised users to take precautions. “Important warning: Starlink is the only non-Russian communications system still operational in some parts of Ukraine, so it is likely to be attacked. Please be careful when using it,” Musk tweeted†
When asked for specific advice, Musk . said said people in Ukraine should only turn on Starlink when necessary, place the antenna “as far away from people as possible” and put “light camouflage over [the] antenna to avoid visual detection.” A thin coat of paint would work if there are no metal particles in the paint, he wrote†
A Twitter user asked Musk if Starlink could face a cyber attack from Russia, similar to that of Viasat satellite service. Musk responded“Almost all Viasat Ukraine user terminals were permanently disabled by a Russian cyber-attack on the day of the invasion, so… yes.”
As previously reported, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov asked Musk to activate Starlink in Ukraine shortly after the Russian invasion of the country disrupted internet service. Musk replied in the affirmative and two days later Fedorov . said tweeted a photo of a truckload of newly arrived Starlink terminals.
It is not exactly clear how many Starlink terminals are available in Ukraine, but Fedorov tweeted to Musk: “We’ll keep you updated as we roll out more Starlinks across the country.”
On Wednesday, Fedorov sent a tweet to Musk say Ukraine needs generators to keep Starlink and other services online because of Russian attacks on infrastructure. Musk initially recommended solar panels and a battery pack, and he followed on Thursday at say that SpaceX is “updating software to reduce peak power consumption so that Starlink can be powered” [a] cigarette lighter in the car.” Musk also wrote that “mobile roaming” [has been] turned on, so [the] phased array antenna can keep the signal while turned on [a] moving vehicle.”
Starlink works for user in Kiev
Starlink has not deployed any ground terminals in Ukraine and the closest is reportedly at Wola Krobowska in Poland. Twitter user Oleg Kutkov confirmed that Starlink worked for him in Kiev on Monday and Posted a speed test result with a download speed of 137 Mbps and upload speeds of 24 Mbps. He also wrote that his fastest download speed was over 200 Mbps for a while.
Kutkov told Insider that he bought his Starlink dish in December, before the service was active in Ukraine. After seeing Musk’s tweet on Saturday about activating Starlink in Ukraine, Kutkov said he decided to try and connect to the service. He said he didn’t expect Starlink to start living in the country as soon as 10 hours after Ukraine Musk had asked to send Starlink kits,” according to the Insider article.
“I didn’t expect it to work, but the system seems robust and offers a great connection,” Kutkov told the news site. Kutkov has fiber optic internet and said he will use Starlink if it breaks because “the local internet infrastructure could be destroyed”.
