EU Commission: SpaceX must urgently restart services to Ukraine at full capacity

Thomas Regnier, one of the spokespersons of the EU Commission, made a statement at the daily press conference in Brussels regarding the alleged slowdown in the Starlink satellite internet service used by Ukraine.

Regnier stated that the news that Starlink has slowed down the service is "extremely worrying" and noted that Ukraine needs this service to protect its citizens, soldiers to maintain communication and to manage unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

The EU Commission Spokesperson called on SpaceX to "urgently restart full capacity" services to Ukraine.

"Europe needs to do much more on space"

Regnier said that the Russia-Ukraine War revealed that Europe's security "depends on space" and added, "At this point, Europe needs to do much more." he said.

Regnier stated that efforts are continuing to expand the IRIS satellite communication network and develop a system consisting of a total of 348 satellites, and stated that this system will offer the "most secure satellite connection" opportunity for both civil and military use.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy stated that Starlink was not completely closed in Ukraine, but its use for some military and humanitarian purposes was limited due to speed restrictions.

Sergiy Beskrestnov, Zelenskiy's advisor on the development of defense technology fields, also made a statement that the Starlink system "restricts" the operating speed of the "military package" internet service used by the Ukrainian army.

Stating that this restriction applies to the military package of the service called "StarShield", Beskrestnov said, "Our defense forces were not informed about this limit, and this caused the disruption of a number of missions. This development is clearly not a coincidence and is related to the current political situation." He used the following expressions: