Stubb Urges Musk to Extend Starlink Over Russia for Ukraine Strikes

Finnish President Alexander Stubb has appealed to Elon Musk to widen Starlink satellite internet coverage so that Ukraine can target Russian ballistic missile launchers based inside Russian territory.

Speaking in New York, where world leaders have gathered for the annual United Nations meetings, Stubb said he had made the request directly to the SpaceX owner. He argued that enabling Ukrainian use of Starlink in areas housing ballistic missile launchers — whether in occupied Ukrainian territory or in Russia — would serve a strategic purpose and save lives.

Starlink was switched on over Ukraine shortly after Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 and has since become central to battlefield communications and drone operations. The service does not operate over Russian territory, but Ukrainian officials believe that turning it on for their use inside Russia would allow weapons to strike mobile launchers positioned within several hundred kilometres of the border.

The appeal comes as Ukraine confronts a deepening shortage of air defences with winter approaching. Only Patriot systems are capable of intercepting the ballistic missiles that Russia has been firing at record levels, and interceptor stocks are severely depleted, with no clear source of fresh supplies.

Ukrainian officials fear Moscow intends to systematically destroy power and heating infrastructure during the coldest months. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy used the UN gathering to press for ceasefires covering strikes on energy infrastructure and vessels in the Black Sea, though Russia has given no public signal that it would accept such arrangements.

Stubb identified three priorities for Ukraine through the winter: air defences — for which he said Starlink could partly serve — energy installations, and money. He said work was under way on a winter support package, adding that he did not expect the war to end before winter.

He welcomed the resumption in August of US-led peace negotiations, with American envoys visiting both Moscow and Kyiv. In his view, the simplest path would be an unconditional ceasefire to halt the killing, as US President Donald Trump reiterated at the UN General Assembly, followed by talks on security, territory, reconstruction and compensation.

Stubb also outlined a possible frozen conflict along the line of contact, with buffer zones of about 30 kilometres on either side, and described a partial ceasefire covering energy and grain-related targets as the next best option.