SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell recently said the company has sent scores of Starlink satellite internet kits to Ukraine.
Shortly after Russia’s invasion, Elon Musk’s space company began shipping Starlink satellite kits to Ukraine, which include an antenna, a mounting tripod and a Wi-Fi router.
Ukrainians can use the Starlink kits to connect directly to SpaceX’s orbital network, which has a total of around 2,000 satellites.
During a panel discussion at the Satellite 2022 conference in Washington, D.C. Shotwell said: “I’m proud that we were able to provide the terminals to folks in Ukraine. It’s been enormously helpful, I think, to ensure people are still communicating.”
After Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov approached Musk for assistance, as Russia’s attacks disrupted internet service in the country, the billionaire had Starlink terminals supplied to Ukraine.
However, Shotwell did not have a more specific figure for the number of dishes the company had supplied to Ukraine. CNBC later reported her as saying that the Starlink kits were mostly funded by private sources, but, “France assisted and I think Poland is helping”.
“I don’t think the US has given us any money to give terminals to Ukraine,” she added.
HELP FROM ALL QUARTERS
Apart from Musk’s company, other private firms, too, are helping Ukraine in the time of war.
For example, Eurostar, the cross-Channel rail operator, has announced that Ukrainian nationals travelling to London with a valid UK visa would receive free tickets.
According to reports, PayPal Holdings Inc, a payments provider, has shut down its services in Russia, citing present circumstances, joining a slew of other financial and digital firms that have halted operations in the aftermath of Ukraine’s incursion.
Airbnb has stated that it will provide 1,00,000 Ukrainian refugees with free temporary lodging. The corporation will cover the entire expense of their stay.
Apple has put a halt to product sales and limited the availability of Apple Pay and other services. It has also blocked both traffic and live occurrences in Apple Maps in Ukraine, citing concerns that Russia could strike gatherings of big numbers. Meanwhile, the RT and Sputnik applications have been pulled from the app Store outside of Russia.
Google also has made changes to traffic incidents in order to safeguard Ukrainians. It has also blocked RT and Sputnik on YouTube in Europe and updated its search and maps services in Ukraine to provide alerts to UN resources for people looking for refugee and asylum information.
Similarly, Meta has also restricted RT and Sputnik in Europe, and it is fact-checking and removing anything concerning the war that is posted on its platforms. They are also beefing up their privacy and security measures to avoid being hacked.
Another tech giant Microsoft, in addition to halting product sales and removing RT from its app store, has been detecting and advising the Ukrainian authorities about cyberattacks and will continue to do so in the future.
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