Why is Ukraine so reliant on Starlink and can Europe plug the gap?

Starlink’s recent slowdown in Ukraine, which affected Kyiv’s ability to defend against Russian attacks, exposed the risks of relying on Elon Musk’s SpaceX network. Ukrainian forces use Starlink for battlefield communications and Starshield for military purposes such as drone warfare, which requires fast, reliable connectivity. Eutelsat’s OneWeb has about 600 active satellites, compared with more than 10,000 for Starlink, while the EU’s Iris² network is not expected to be operational until 2029. Ukraine could join the EU’s Govsatcom satellite-sharing network in the meantime, but it cannot be used for military operations such as controlling drones.