{"id":33645,"date":"2026-08-26T13:31:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T13:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/33645\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T13:31:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T13:31:10","slug":"elon-musk-awarded-ukraines-order-of-freedom-one-of-the-countrys-highest-state-honours-for-starlink-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/33645\/","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk awarded Ukraine’s Order of Freedom, one of the country’s highest state honours, for Starlink role"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elon Musk has been awarded Ukraine’s Order of Freedom, one of the country’s highest state honours, for his “outstanding personal merits” in protecting human life and freedom and strengthening ties between Kyiv and the United States.<\/p>\n

Mr Musk \u2014 the founder of SpaceX \u2014 has become one of the most influential and contentious private sector figures in Ukraine’s war effort.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His decision to provide Ukraine with access to Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet network, was critical. It remains a communications lifeline for Ukrainian forces and civilians after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.<\/p>\n

There was no immediate comment from Mr Musk on the award, which was announced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.<\/p>\n

Musk has restricted Starlink access in Russia\"Volodomyr<\/p>\n

Ukraine’s president is hoping Mr Musk will reconsider allowing Starlink to operate over Russian territory.<\/p>\n

Starlink has become deeply embedded in Ukraine’s military operations, with commanders and soldiers relying on satellite connectivity to communicate and coordinate operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The technology has been integrated into Ukraine’s drone operations, helping operators maintain links with drones and navigate them over longer distances.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ukraine’s first-ever drone parade<\/a><\/p>\n

It was not soldiers marching down Kyiv’s main parade to mark 35 years of Ukrainian independence, but robots designed to take their place on the frontline.<\/p>\n

Ukraine’s access to Starlink is the main reason its middle-strike drone campaign, which caught Russian forces off guard and undermined their logistics lines earlier this year, reported early successes.<\/p>\n

Mr Musk has allowed the Ukrainians to use Starlink inside their own territory, including in Ukrainian regions occupied by the Russians, but has restricted use of the satellite system inside Russia.<\/p>\n

SpaceX’s decision earlier this year to accept Kyiv’s pleas and block unauthorised Starlink terminals being used by Russian forces in occupied territory also strengthened Ukraine’s position.<\/p>\n

The campaign has put pressure on Russian logistics in Crimea, giving Ukrainian forces a degree of battlefield momentum that Kyiv has not enjoyed since its successful counteroffensives around Kherson and Kharkiv in late 2022.<\/p>\n

Ukraine’s president is hoping Mr Musk will reconsider allowing Starlink to operate over Russian territory so Ukrainian forces can maintain satellite connectivity for longer-range drone attacks targeting Russia’s military and economic infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Musk’s outsized influence over Ukraine\"The<\/p>\n

Starlink has become embedded in Ukraine’s wartime communications. (Reuters: Dado Ruvic)<\/p>\n

Mr Musk is both a crucial partner for Kyiv and a potential source of vulnerability and dependence.<\/p>\n

As Starlink has become embedded in Ukraine’s wartime communications, Mr Musk and SpaceX have significant influence over how the technology can be used.<\/p>\n

Mr Musk’s decisions can have direct consequences for Ukraine’s military capabilities, making it important that Kyiv preserve a positive relationship.<\/p>\n

Pentagon denies reports of clash with SpaceX<\/a><\/p>\n

The Pentagon has denied claims that the department has been clashing with Elon Musk’s SpaceX over costs to use its satellite internet network.<\/p>\n

Mr Zelenskyy has sought US help in persuading Mr Musk to permit Ukraine to expand its ability to use Starlink beyond Ukraine.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Musk has said he believes that would be a significant and dangerous escalation, Mr Zelenskyy told reporters last week.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a reported mix-up over whether SpaceX had approved Ukraine’s use of Starlink for operations inside Russia contributed to tensions between Mr Zelenskyy and then-Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who was the government’s main interlocutor with Mr Musk.<\/p>\n

Mr Zelenskyy said inaccurate information from the Defense Ministry that SpaceX had approved the bid had contributed to an awkward exchange with US President Donald Trump, who accused the Ukrainian president of deceiving him. He did not say when that occurred.<\/p>\n

That contributed to “some of the steps” taken against Mr Fedorov, Mr Zelenskyy told reporters last week without explicitly accusing him of deliberately providing false information.<\/p>\n

Mr Fedorov was dismissed in July as part of a broader government shake-up. His dismissal also highlights the political element of Mr Musk’s role in Ukraine’s war effort.<\/p>\n

AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Elon Musk has been awarded Ukraine’s Order of Freedom, one of the country’s highest state honours, for his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33646,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2439,11773,11774,2438,3903,319,3619,108],"class_list":["post-33645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-elon-musk","tag-musk","tag-russia-ukraine-russia-war","tag-starlink","tag-ukraine-drones","tag-ukraine-war","tag-volodomyr-zelenskyy","tag-zelenskyy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}