Ukraine’s Engineers Dodged Russian Mines To Get Kherson Back Online–With A Little Help From Elon Musk’s Satellites

On Thursday morning, with gray skies and the threat of Russian air strikes looming overhead, Ukrainian internet engineers stood by as the military searched for mines in the rubble of the Kherson offices of the country’s biggest telecoms operator, Kyivstar. The engineers were hoping that, despite the dilapidated building and the risk of boobytraps, there might be some salvageable equipment, anything that could help provide wider connectivity to the city that had only recently been liberated from Russian occupation. As of Friday morning they hadn’t had any luck, but they were still hopeful.

Elsewhere, though, much progress has been made in bringing the internet back to Kherson, a city battered by bombs since the early stages of the Russian invasion. Though power is out and every site has to be checked for Russian traps before entering, Kyivstar chief technology officer Volodomyr Lutchenko said that five base stations are up and running on generators, compared to over 80 before the invasion, with more coming online as mines are removed from the sites. Vodafone spokesperson Victoria Pavlovska said that in the last 24 hours it had significantly expanded its coverage in Kherson, covering most of the city.

The engineers have been able to communicate with one another thanks, in part, to satellite internet provided for free by Elon Musk’s Starlink division of SpaceX. With infrastructure badly damaged or heavily mined, satellite connectivity has provided a way to coordinate. “It’s very useful in emergency situations,” said Lutchenko.

Both Vodafone and Kyivstar – the largest operators in Ukraine – were given Starlink systems by the Ministry of Digital Transformation, who’s been a champion of Musk’s assistance to Ukraine despite the billionaire’s quarrels with other parts of the Kyiv government. Musk had previously suggested that the best path forward in Ukraine was for it to relinquish Crimea and to redo some of the sham elections in occupied territory in the east. That led Kyiv diplomat Andrij Melnyk to tweet that Musk could “f*ck off.” Musk, before he became CEO of Twitter, tweeted he would follow Melnyk’s order and potentially stop providing free Starlink services to Ukraine. He later backtracked and confirmed Starlink would continue to be free for Ukraine.

SpaceX hadn’t responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.

Citizens of Kherson have been quick to get back online, whether to get updates from the outside world or contact loved ones. Crowds have been gathering around the new stations, where charging points – also attached to diesel generators – have been set up. “You can’t imagine the impact,” added Lutchenko.

Since the start of the war, Ukraine’s telecoms engineers have been hailed as heroes for going into dangerous cities, from Kyiv to the still-occupied Mariupol, and maintaining the nation’s access to the web.

Until the war ends, there’s a strong chance they will be called on again. As Lutchenko spoke, an air siren had just finished blaring. “Today, more than 80 rockets were launched in Ukraine,” he added. “This is our new normality.”