Ukraine's Defense Ministry signed a letter of intent with Finnish tech companies ICEYE and Nokia on Oct. 22, aimed at developing Ukraine's own satellite communications system, the Kyiv Independent reported. ICEYE said the partnership aims to support Ukraine's defense capabilities, particularly in building sovereign satellite communications: systems that, according to the companies, would give a nation ownership and control of the satellites, the ground segment that operates them and the user terminals.
The letter was announced on Oct. 22 during Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's visit to Kyiv, Breaking Defense reported.
An ICEYE spokesperson told Breaking Defense that the letter "is an expression of intent and does not imply an ordering of any system for Ukraine."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement that modern warfare has shown reliable communications to be a matter of national security, and he called the letter an important step toward capabilities Ukraine can control.
ICEYE CEO and co-founder Rafal Modrzewski said in a statement that Ukraine needs secure, sovereign and high-performance satellite communications that it controls, Space.com reported. Nokia Defense chairman Mikko Hautala said in the same statement that the partners would explore how such systems could strengthen Ukraine's resilience and give it "control over the connectivity it depends on."
Breaking Defense reported that the letter came amid uncertainty over Ukraine's ability to use SpaceX's Starshield military satellites for drone operations, after a U.S. move the previous week to throttle the network's speed. Space.com reported that on Oct. 14, Ukrainian soldiers and officials reported a severe throttling of access, a speed limit on drones carrying Starshield terminals that caused many of them to fall out of the sky.
Zelenskyy told ABC News on Oct. 23 that Ukraine's access speeds remained limited, despite assurances from President Donald Trump that the slowdown had been reversed, Breaking Defense reported.
On Oct. 24, Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram that Starlink and Starshield services "have been restored to the speeds that existed before all these restrictions," according to an Interfax-Ukraine translation. He said restoration began overnight and that by morning speeds were sufficient for using the connection, the agency reported.
Ukraine's Defense Ministry said on Telegram the same day that its monitoring systems were "officially recording the restoration of Starlink/Starshield operating speeds" and that connectivity remained stable at more than 400 kilometers per hour, Reuters reported. The Kyiv Independent reported that the ministry told reporters Starshield had previously been limited to 161 kilometers per hour.
ICEYE and Nokia announced their partnership on Oct. 1 to develop broadband satellite communications systems in low Earth orbit for governments, for missions ranging from defense and border security to emergency services and disaster response, according to a joint press release cited by Breaking Defense. The companies said the first satellite is planned for liftoff in 2028.
Under the partnership, ICEYE would provide the satellite platform and Nokia would contribute secure networking technologies on board, Breaking Defense reported.
ICEYE, headquartered in Espoo, Finland, primarily operates synthetic aperture radar satellites, which image Earth using radar.