A €1.5bn ($1.6bn) deal for Starlink to provide Italy’s soldiers and diplomats with secure communications is looking shaky. Mr Musk has hardly been calming things down. On March 9th he said that Ukraine’s “entire front line would collapse if I turned it [Starlink] off”,

Fears of a Starlink shut-off at the front line have racked Ukraine. European satellite internet firms took the opportunity to step forward as replacements — but even collectively, they are unlikely to fill the void in coverage that Starlink's shut off would leave.

EU officials are in talks with four European satellite firms about providing a back-up service for Starlink in Ukraine.

Suggestions that Ukraine could lose access to Elon Musk's Starlink satellite internet system, which has been vital in maintaining its military communications as it fights Russia's invasion, have focused investor interest on Starlink's smaller European rival Eutelsat .

A draft of the EU's White Paper on Defence advocates for the EU to fund solutions for Ukraine "that can be provided by EU-based commercial providers."

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion in 2022, Ukraine has relied heavily on Elon Musk's Starlink satellite network for stable communications.

Kymeta of Redmond, Washington, makes multiple types of electronically steered array flat panel antennas that connect to EutelSat’s OneWeb low-Earth-orbit (LEO) constellation, an alternative to SpaceX’s Starlink.

Shares of French satellite operator Eutelsat Communications (EPA:ETL) soared 387 percent last week, driven by speculation that the company could replace Elon Musk’s Starlink as Ukraine’s primary satellite internet provider.