Starlink Terminals Reached Ukraine and Kyiv Resident Successfully Linked to Its Service

Elon Musk followed through on his pledge to deliver Starlink terminals two days after Mykhailo Fedorov tweeted him. It turned out that more terminals were really on their way. The deputy prime minister, Fedorov, thanked Musk on Twitter by posting a photo of a truck loaded with Starlink user terminals. “You are most welcome,” Musk responded to Fedorov’s tweet.

Following Fedorov’s statement, a Ukrainian engineer, Oleg Kutkov, reported that SpaceX Starlink is functioning in his place, Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital. He put his Starlink dish, which he bought months ago on eBay, outside his window and pointed it at the sky to test it out. Kutkov had no clue he would actually receive a signal from one of SpaceX’s satellites within 10 seconds.

Ukrainian engineer tested out the Starlink service

Kutkov purchased the Starlink dish to learn about it. Since the Starlink service was inactive in Ukraine, he got the dish from someone who sold it and transferred their US account to Kutkov.

When Musk announced that the Starlink service was active in Ukraine, Kutkov attempted to demonstrate it using his Starlink terminal. At first, he failed to connect his dish to his account, but SpaceX support contacted him and told him that his account already worked. After Fedorov tweeted the arrival of Starlink dishes in Ukraine, Kutkov made another attempt and placed his dish outside his window. It worked.

Image: Oleg Kutkov

He then shared his trial on Starlink dish on his Twitter account, revealing his download speeds. “I thought there might be some problems with obstructions, might be some problems with my Dishy. But no, it just connected. I got really good speed, really good connectivity,” Kutkov said, as reported by The Verge.

However, Kutkov only used it as an experiment in order to show Ukraine that the Starlink service is actually active now in the country. As far as he has tried it, he has a very good internet connection with no issues.

“I thought that I could test it and report to everyone that, ‘Yeah, this is working in Ukraine. So it’s good to go,” Kutkov said.

Things to watch out for

To access SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellite system, a user must have a Starlink dish, a flat white dish like the one owned by Kutkov. The dish will transmit and pick up signals under a clear sky from Starlink satellites situated in low Earth orbit.

Additionally, the satellites must connect to gateways on Earth that are linked to existing fiber-optic connectivity. In Ukraine itself, SpaceX gateways are unknown – possibly not found. However, it is reported that they are available in neighboring countries of Ukraine, such as Poland. So, that should be quite helpful.

Now that the Starlink dishes have arrived in Ukraine, it’s still unclear how and to whom these dishes will be distributed. It’s also unclear how many Starlink dishes Musk delivered. Especially in this state of turmoil, the distribution must be a difficult task to carry out. But once these items are passed to the users, they must remain cautious.

https://twitter.com/FedorovMykhailo/status/1498392515262746630?s=20&t=uxMrWWl2k8UNcjZLoeWoQA

As Kutkov told The Verge, he was wary of using his Starlink dish regularly because it was claimed that the technology might render him vulnerable to Russian airstrikes. Although he was unsure about it, according to him, it was possible from a technical point of view.

Issues may also occur in the activation of Starlink terminals in Ukraine. The dishes will need unhindered access to the sky to keep a direct connection, which may be tough with the current war situation. But at least if the worst were to happen, such as the failure of Ukraine’s internet and communication networks, some glimmers of reinforcements are at hand.