SpaceX billionaire Elon Musk announced that the company’s Starlink service is now active in Ukraine after Ukraine’s vice prime minister requested help.
“Starlink service is now active in Ukraine. More terminals en route,” Musk tweeted Saturday.
Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov had asked Musk for Starlink stations in his country.
“@elonmusk, while you try to colonize Mars — Russia try to occupy Ukraine! While your rockets successfully land from space — Russian rockets attack Ukrainian civil people,” he said.
“We ask you to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations and to address sane Russians to stand,” Fedorov added.
Through SpaceX, thousands of Starlink satellites have been launched into Earth’s orbit.
The New York Post reported that “The satellites help carry large amounts of information rapidly to any point on Earth, avoiding the need for fiber-optic cables”.
With the satellites, data links can be provided to areas of Ukraine that have lost internet access due to the war.
Fedorov posted multiple tweets asking for help from people like Mark Zuckerberg and Tim Cook. He has also requested assistance from Netflix, Google, YouTube, PayPal, Visa, and Mastercard.
“Mark Zuckerberg, while you create Metaverse — Russia ruins real life in Ukraine! We ask you to ban access to @facebookapp and @instagram from Russia — as long as tanks and missiles attack our kindergartens and hospitals!” he tweeted Sunday.