European Union leaders ended a two-day summit in Brussels on Thursday by declaring support for Ukraine and committing to strengthen the satellite communications its military relies on, according to Yonhap News Agency. The pledge came as Ukraine's forces dealt with a sudden slowdown in Starshield, the military-grade version of SpaceX's Starlink internet service, which affected drone operations and the delivery of military supplies.
The summit ran from Wednesday into Thursday in the Belgian capital, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with EU leaders. Yonhap reported that the gathering produced a commitment to reinforce battlefield communications capacity, but also exposed how dependent Kyiv remains on a service controlled in the United States.
Why it matters
Starlink has become infrastructure for Ukraine's war effort rather than a convenience. Latvia's Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs told reporters at the summit that the service is the key that allows Ukraine to actually fight and counterattack, according to Yonhap. That assessment undercuts the central ambition behind Europe's pledge: reducing Ukraine's reliance on a supplier whose decisions are made in Washington.
The timing sharpened the problem. Reuters, cited by Yonhap, reported that anonymous U.S. officials said an order to restrict the satellite system used in Ukrainian operations originated inside the White House. Access to and control over Starshield sits with the U.S. Department of Defense.
President Donald Trump told reporters that day that he was not responsible, saying he did not know who had taken such action and that as far as he understood the system was in the same state as before. Zelenskyy, speaking at the summit, said Starlink service had still not returned to normal and described the episode as a very unpleasant and dangerous surprise.
Europe's own capacity falls short
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas acknowledged the gap directly. Starlink is genuinely essential to Ukraine, she said, and unfortunately Europe cannot replace that function right now, according to Yonhap.
Kulbergs echoed the point, saying it will take time before Europe fields equivalent capability. Europe has capacity, he added, but not enough of it.
The bloc does have pieces in place. Member states currently pool and share existing government satellite communications through GOVSATCOM, and European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said the EU intends to bring Ukraine fully into that system. The EU is also pursuing a satellite network project known as IRIS², positioned as a counterweight to Starlink. But Yonhap reported that its satellites are not scheduled for launch until 2029 and would not be fully operational until a year after that, leaving an immediate capability gap that the project cannot close.
France-owned Eutelsat, through its OneWeb subsidiary, also provides satellite communications services to Ukraine. Its constellation numbers 648 satellites, however, against more than 10,000 for Starlink, a disparity Yonhap described as substantial. The specialist outlet Via Satellite has assessed that OneWeb's limited communications capacity and shortage of compact terminals make it difficult for the network to support drone and ground robot operations.
French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters after the summit that Europe is doing everything it can to help Ukraine strengthen its own defense capabilities through satellite imagery and early warning systems, which he described as urgently needed.
Kallas said the European Defence Agency has catalogued all the critical capabilities Europe lacks and stressed that those shortfalls must be closed as quickly as possible.
What to watch next is whether Starlink and Starshield service in Ukraine returns fully to prior levels, and whether the EU's GOVSATCOM integration and IRIS² timeline shift in response to a gap that its own officials say cannot be bridged today.
