Elon Musk responded to a request from Ukraine’s vice prime minister asking for help with satellite internet access.
‘@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! In a Saturday tweet, Mykhailo Fedorov, vice PM of Ukraine, asked for Starlink stations to be provided to Ukraine and for the Russians to stop attacking Ukrainian civil people.
He pleaded for Ukraine, which is without an internet connection after three days of Russia’s rocket attacks.
There are officials keen to keep locals connected in order for their stories and experiences can be used against Russian propaganda.
Elon Musk, billionaire SpaceX founder and CEO said Saturday that Starlink’s satellite broadband service was available in Ukraine
Musk’s vice prime minister in Ukraine, Mykhailo Fedorov sent a tweet to Musk Saturday asking for his help
The Ukraine government official asked Musk to provide the embattled country with Starlink stations
Musk returned the call less than eleven hours later and said that more terminals were currently on route
Musk responded to the phone call on Saturday afternoon and stated that Starlink receivers would be sent to the United States.
“Starlink is currently active in Ukraine,” Musk tweeted. Musk tweets hours later that more terminals are on the way
SpaceX is building Starlink, a satellite-based system to provide internet access in underserved regions of the globe.
Also on Saturday, Fedorov called on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Netflix and Google to block Russia-related accounts.
Mykhailo Fedorov (Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine) tweeted that Saturday’s tweet stated: “Starlink terminals coming to Ukraine! We are grateful to @elonmusk for your support of Ukraine.
Mykhailo Fedorov thanked Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United States Oksana Markarova, pictured on Saturday
Tweet by Lawof72, Twitter User on February 26, 2022. Thank you @elonmusk & @SpaceX to enable Starlink and send Starlink receivers back to Ukraine
Even Twitter praised Elon Musk for his quick actions and even the nation’s account thanked him.
“We have also reached out to @Netflix asking for their support. We also asked @Netflix to ban the Russian Federation’s Netflix access and to shut down Russian content. We believe you do care. Stop this shameful and bloody conflict! He posted the tweet.
While Ukraine is still subject to air attacks and ground assaults by Russian forces, it has been the target of cyber attacks.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, Cabinet of Ministers, and Parliament website were all appeared offline for several hours on Wednesday following a cyberattack which also affected some of the banks in the country.
On Saturday, a large oil storage tank caught on fire in the vicinity of Kyiv, Ukraine.
Russia attacked its Western neighbour on Thursday the day after Vladimir Putin, Russian President declared war. He announced a special military operation to demilitarize Ukraine and denazify it under pretense of Russia defending itself.
After being furious about the lack of progress in his army’s armies, Vladimir Putin escalated his invasion on Sunday morning.
Local newspaper The Kyiv Independent wrote that an oil depot had been blown up at Vasylkiv, a city which sits around 40 kilometers south west of Kyiv, close to a key airport. Kharkiv was another city located in Eastern Ukraine, close to the Russian frontier.
As the fuel line was blown out, a mushroom cloud filled the sky. A group of witnesses recorded the footage and heard their shock when the ball of fire erupted into a nearby skyscraper.
Ukrainian TV station Nexta Shared footage shows flames rising from the ground and black clouds as fuel was burned.
Starlink satellite depicted by an artist over Earth. Starlink satellite constellation aims to bring internet access to the majority of Earth’s population, especially rural areas.
60 Starlink Satellites are stacked before being deployed in May 2019.
SpaceX, Hawthorne (California) has nearly 2,000 Starlink satellites orbiting Earth from an altitude close to 340 miles.
Elon Musk launched a satellite service last week to provide high-speed Internet access for remote Tonga communities. This was in response to the devastating tsunami and volcanic eruptions in January.
The satellites allow for large amounts of information to be beamed quickly to any point on Earth without the need for fiber-optic cables.
“In 2022, modern technology is one of the most effective responses to missiles, tanks and rockets. To support sanctions against Russian Federation, I have written to tech titans. We asked them to stop the outrageous aggression against our citizens! Fedorov also posted a tweet Saturday.
Since the launch of the initial Starlink satellites in February 2018, a total 2,142 Starlink satellites had been launched. However, many have either failed to orbit or have since been retired.
SpaceX is even more ambitious with its Starlink project and has applied for authorization for a second generation megaconstellation consisting of 30,000 satellites.