Ukraine Signs Satellite Deal With Nokia and ICEYE as Starlink Restrictions Persist

Ukraine's Ministry of Defense signed a letter of intent Thursday with Finnish telecommunications company Nokia and satellite manufacturer ICEYE to develop new defense and satellite communication capabilities, accelerating Kyiv's push to reduce its dependence on SpaceX's Starlink network.

The move comes after SpaceX imposed speed restrictions on Starlink that cut connectivity for drones and other aircraft traveling faster than 100 miles per hour, causing fast-moving drones to lose signal and fall from the sky. As of Friday, Ukrainian officials said the restrictions remained in place.

"Modern warfare has proven that reliable communications are a matter of national security," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement. "We must all rely on capabilities that we can control."

Zelenskyy separately announced a partnership with Norway this week to jointly develop air defense and communications systems that could also serve as an alternative to Starshield, SpaceX's defense-oriented satellite service.

Chad Anderson, founder and CEO of venture capital firm Space Capital, cautioned that any functional alternative remains years away. "Two to three years away," Anderson said, adding that "matching Starlink's scale is a longer road."

SpaceX currently operates roughly 11,000 satellites in orbit, according to data tracked by astronomer Jonathan McDowell. Anderson noted that Starshield may be an even harder service to replace, pointing to Pentagon contracting documents that describe SpaceX as the only provider capable of meeting certain requirements through 2026. "Capital isn't the constraint any more," Anderson said. "Launch is."

Neither the Trump administration nor SpaceX has accepted responsibility for the unannounced service changes. President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday that he would call on Elon Musk to lift the restrictions. SpaceX executives did not respond to a request for comment.

Lawmakers from both parties in the U.S. Congress are now calling for a formal investigation into Musk and SpaceX over the alleged unilateral service changes.

Jay Shambaugh, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and professor of economics and international affairs at George Washington University, described the Starlink changes as "part of a pattern since Trump came back into office of the United States acting as an unreliable ally." He cautioned that such behavior "can reduce U.S. exports to the EU if those countries don't want to be dependent on something where the U.S. can cut them off."

Virginia Burger, senior defense policy analyst at the Project on Government Oversight, said no drop-in replacement currently exists for Starlink, particularly as combat increasingly relies on unmanned systems, drone warfare, and other platforms that require high-speed internet connectivity.

Several alternatives are in development but none are ready for deployment at scale. Amazon's Leo constellation, France's Eutelsat, and a forthcoming service from Blue Origin called TeraWave have yet to fully launch. The European Union's IRIS² constellation of hundreds of satellites is not expected to begin its first launches until 2029.

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, venture and private equity investors have directed roughly $8 billion into Starlink and Starshield alternatives, according to Space Capital research. Approximately $3.9 billion of that total has gone to potential Starlink competitors, primarily Spacesail and China SatNet.

The Nokia-ICEYE agreement signals a broader shift among U.S. allies toward sovereign or allied-controlled communications infrastructure — a trend that could reshape how governments procure and insure access to space-based connectivity in future conflicts.

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