Ukraine awards Elon Musk top honor as Kyiv pushes for broader Starlink use
What's at stake: Kyiv wants Starlink extended into Russia for longer-range drone and missile-targeting operations.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy awarded Elon Musk Ukraine’s Order of Freedom, one of the country’s highest honors, as Kyiv presses SpaceX to widen how Starlink can be used in the war with Russia. A presidential decree cited Musk’s role in protecting life and strengthening ties between Ukraine and the United States. Starlink has been central to Ukrainian battlefield communications since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 and is also used in drone operations. Zelenskyy has said Ukraine wants the satellite network to operate over Russian territory, which could help sustain links during strikes on targets such as ballistic missile launchers. Musk has previously opposed that step as a major escalation.