Ukraine to Be the First in Europe to Connect Phones to Starlink Satellites

The largest mobile operator in Ukraine, Kyivstar, has started testing satellite communications for mobile phones in cooperation with Starlink, the Gaze reports, citing EuroNews. 

Mobile phones with 4G or LTE networks are planned to be connected directly to Starlink satellites in orbit in the middle of 2026. 

Analysts say the partnership is a “coherent step” for Ukraine, regardless of the country's growing dependence on Musk. 

“There are obviously concerns about tech sovereignty because then you will only be depending on one provider, Starlink … but sovereignty at this point becomes a second priority … priority number one is winning the war,” stated Dario Garcia de Viedma, technology and digital policy fellow at the Elcano Royal Institute. 

The advantage of Starlink in Ukraine is that the terminals that receive the signal are very convenient and portable. 

“It [Starlink] has excellent connectivity, good portability and normal pricing for broadband,” said Jan Frederik Slijkerman, senior credit sector strategist at the forecaster ING Think. 

Two days after the start of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine's Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov asked Elon Musk to provide Starlink terminals, and six days later the country received the first sets.  

As of April 2025, more than 50,000 terminals were in use in Ukraine to provide communications in critical infrastructure. Starlink was also actively used by the military, in particular in the Aerorozvidka mission to support the Delta combat control system during power outages. 

In particular, Garcia de Viedma noted that cooperation with Kyivstar could become an economic incentive for Musk not to disconnect the satellites, since it binds him to commercial obligations in Ukraine. 

Still, there is a consensus that Ukraine needs a program to diversify its communications resources. 

It is noted that one of the solutions could be to limit the partnership between Starlink and Kyivstar to remote areas, without expanding it to urban consumers in Ukraine. 

Another alternative for diversification would be to connect to European equivalents such as Eutelsat or IRIS2, although Starlink still has the advantage in terms of the number of satellites, launches, and customers. 

The Gaze previously reported that Ukrainian company STETMAN will produce flat satellite terminals under a deal with Sweden’s Requtech, marking a key step toward satellite independence and creating a Starlink alternative.