Finland’s President asks Elon Musk to expand Starlink access for Ukraine’s strategic operations

Finnish President Alexander Stubb asked Elon Musk to allow Ukraine’s access to the Starlink satellite internet service to be expanded to areas in Russia and in the occupied Ukrainian territories. The request was made in New York during the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly, amid intensifying Russian ballistic missile attacks and Ukraine’s shortage of air defense systems ahead of winter.

Stubb told Reuters that access in areas where Russian ballistic missile launchers are located could help Ukraine locate and act against them, arguing that this could save lives. The Ukrainian military uses Starlink for communications and drone operations, but the service is currently unavailable in Russia.

The Finnish president identified air defense, energy infrastructure and funding as Ukraine’s main needs for the coming period. He said he did not expect the war to end before winter and called for negotiations to resume and for an unconditional ceasefire.

Stubb also mentioned freezing the conflict along the line of contact, with buffer zones, or a ceasefire limited to energy infrastructure and grain shipments. On Wednesday, in New York, Finland and Ukraine signed an agreement to deepen cooperation in defense and security, including through joint projects focused on drone technology.