The European Union is negotiating with Ukraine to fully join the GOVSATCOM secure satellite communications program. The system is intended to be a temporary solution and expand available communication channels amid disruptions in the Starlink network, which is actively used by the Ukrainian military.
The European Union is negotiating with Ukraine to fully join the GOVSATCOM secure satellite communications program. The system is intended to be a temporary solution and expand available communication channels amid disruptions in the Starlink network, which is actively used by the Ukrainian military.
This was stated by European Commission spokesman Thomas Rainier during a briefing. According to him, the involvement of additional commercial services within this system is planned to be deployed only in early 2027.
"We are currently negotiating with Ukraine regarding its full accession to GOVSATCOM," said Rainier.
The European Commission is currently avoiding direct comparisons of GOVSATCOM with civilian Starlink or its military version Starshield. Commission representatives left unanswered the question of whether the proposed European resources will be able to support similar tactical and combat missions on the front.
The GOVSATCOM (Governmental Satellite Communications) program operates through a dedicated hub managed by the European Space Agency (EUSPA), which became operational in January 2026. The infrastructure consolidates the government satellite capabilities of France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg and Spain (Cyprus was the first user of the hub). Instead of each country’s government negotiating with providers separately, the hub centrally coordinates requests and allocates resources. The system is designed to manage crisis situations and support critical infrastructure during ground network outages or Russian attacks.
The Council of the European Union granted the official authorization to hold negotiations on Ukraine’s accession on March 9. The European Commission emphasizes that the involvement of commercial providers in 2027 is only a temporary bridge. Full autonomy should be provided by the EU’s own satellite constellation, IRIS², which will consist of over 300 devices and should be operational in 2029.
Recall that the EU began studying options for assisting Ukraine in the event of the Starlink network being shut down in 2025. At that time, the US put pressure on Kyiv and raised the issue of a possible shutdown of the terminals.
Europe was considering various backup scenarios. As European Commission spokesman Thomas Rainier noted, Ukraine had already expressed interest in using GOVSATCOM, a combined network of existing EU national government satellites, as well as the future IRIS² constellation.
GOVSATCOM provides space-based communications for the European Union and its Member States for critical security missions and infrastructure protection. The system is based on the aggregation of civil and military demand and the sharing of available satellite capacity.
