The first Starlink dishes are starting to land in Ukraine, a mere two days after the country requested access to SpaceX’s satellite internet service.
On Monday, Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov tweeted out a photo, which shows a truck full of Starlink dishes in his country. He then thanked SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who tweeted back: “You are most welcome.”
The arrival of Starlink to Ukraine was surprisingly fast. But that’s one advantage SpaceX’s satellite internet system has over traditional internet networks, which rely on underground optical fiber cables. Starlink, on the other hand, uses a collection of over 1,500 active satellites in Earth’s orbit to beam the high-speed internet to users on the planet.
As a result, Starlink can still supply high-speed internet to a region of the world even if a fiber-based network is disrupted or destroyed. The user only needs the $499 Starlink dish. And since Starlink is already available in neighboring Poland, it probably wasn’t hard for the company to expand the service to cover Ukraine.
Back on Saturday, Fedorov tweeted out to Musk, urging for access to Starlink, pointing to the threat of Russian rockets targeting civilians in his country. About 10 hours later, Musk replied back: "Starlink service is now active in Ukraine. More terminals en route.”
On Instagram, Fedorov has posted an additional photo, which shows him setting up a Starlink dish while his rifle sits nearby. “Thank you Elon Musk and all the partners of free Ukraine! We continue to fight on all fronts!” he wrote.
One user on Twitter also claims Starlink is working for him in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, which is facing a siege from Russian forces. “The Dishy was placed just outside my window, even without adjustments,” the user Oleg Kutkov tweeted. He also posted a speed test score that shows Starlink supplying him download speeds at 136Mbps.