The European Union is preparing an alternative to Starlink for Ukraine, with plans to connect commercial satellites to its secure communications system as early as the beginning of 2027.

The European Commission intends to integrate commercial satellite capacity into the European Union Governmental Satellite Communications (GOVSATCOMecure-satcom/govsatcom",null,null,[null,null,null,null,null,null,null,null,null,null,null,null,[282115,null,0,1],null,null,[{"1218":[0]}]],null,null,null,null,null,null,null,[[1792051957925163,117620906,2970070620],null,null,null,null,[[2,0,0,11]]],null,"b9584cf5-e588-4af1-a49c-5382c1046b5d"]]-->) system from early next year, including to help meet Ukraine’s communications needs, according to UNIAN.

Govsatcom has been operational since January 2026 and brings together the capabilities of EU member states’ government satellites.

In parallel, Brussels is developing IRIS², its own multi-orbit satellite constellation designed to provide secure communications across Europe. Full deployment of the system is planned for 2029.

However, it remains unclear whether the EU’s interim arrangements will be capable of fully replacing Starshield, the military version of SpaceX’s Starlink network used by Ukrainian forces.