New Delhi : Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov on Saturday called for SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to “provide Ukraine with Starlink stations” and use his public platform to encourage “sane Russians” to oppose their government, RT reported.
“While you try to colonize Mars — Russia try to occupy Ukraine!” Fedorov wrote in a tweet to Musk. “While your rockets successfully land from space — Russian rockets attack Ukrainian civil people!”
“We ask you to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations and to address sane Russians to stand,” Fedorov’s message concluded, the report said.
Musk’s Starlink project is an ambitious attempt to install a grid of satellites in the Earth’s orbit to provide internet access across the globe. SpaceX has thus far put more than 1,700 Starlink satellites into orbit, and the company plans on launching more than 40,000 in total, RT reported.
However, while these satellites pass over Ukraine, there are no ground stations in the country to make use of the network. The nearest ground station is located in the Polish village of Wola Krobowska.
With Russia’s offensive in Ukraine ongoing and fighting reaching the outskirts of Kiev, Fedorov has called on the tech industry to get involved in the conflict. In a post to Facebook earlier on Saturday, he revealed that he had “asked YouTube to block the Russian propaganda media,” and asked Meta and Netflix to withhold their services from Russia.
Fedorov also called on Apple CEO Tim Cook to block access to the App Store from Russia, RT reported.
–IANS