18 Starlink kits have been handed over to farmers in regions where hostilities had been taking place recently. Satellite Internet was provided by agricultural enterprises of the Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia and Mykolaiv regions.

"Communication is as important for farmers as seeds or plant protection products. We have been working on the possibility of transferring Internet terminals from the first days when they appeared in Ukraine. In cooperation with the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, we were able to transfer the first 18 Starlink terminals to those farmers who needed them the most," said the UAC Chairman Andrii Dykun.

Farmer's Starlink

Anton Parkhomenko, a member of the UAC, manages two agricultural farms in the Chernihiv region and is building a 3mW biogas plant there. The occupiers were in their district on February 24 at 10 am. There were already problems with the Internet and mobile communications in the village before, but with the arrival of Russian invaders, the situation become even worse. “In order to call someone using mobile phone, we had to leave the village, and there was no Internet at all,” said the chairman.

"We have had problems with the Internet all the time; there is no fiber optic cable in the village. For its carrying out it was necessary to pull a cable for 20 kilometers. We tried different options, but mobile internet is not reliable, often the connection was lost at all. We even hired a person who sat in the center of the district and sent to the tax service reports. We are completing the construction of a biogas plant. "The Green Tariff” requires constant reporting via the Internet, and this must happen quickly and around the clock, as there is a remote monitoring system and there is a critical need for high-speed Internet," said Anton Parkhomenko.

After appeal to the Ukrainian Agrarian Council, three Starlink terminals were issued to farms.

"There were no problems with the connection. Internet is free. At the biogas plant, 4 cameras were connected to monitor the progress of construction,” said the farms’ Chairman Anton Parkhomenko.

Without Internet, the full functioning of farms would be impossible. Nowadays, Ukraine's agricultural production is high-tech, so Starlink terminals became a lifeline during the war.

Stable connection

Prior to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Starlink satellite Internet was planned to be launched at least in 2023. But with the start of hostilities, Starlink owner Elon Musk provided Ukraine with access to satellite Internet on February 27 and sent the first batches of Starlink kits to the country. At the end of April, there were 10,000 such kits in Ukraine. As of May 2, there were already 150,000 active users of Elon Musk’s Ukrainian Internet.

First of all, they were handed over to the military, territory defenders and the Railways of Ukraine. Starlink terminals nowadays operate in schools, hospitals, village councils, Centers for administrative services and fire departments. Even ordinary Internet operators who have been disconnected from the global network due to hostilities have been able to quickly resume their work through Starlink.

The Internet is powered by Elon Musk thanks to a constellation of satellites, which, like mirrors, retransmit traffic from the transmitting station to the receiving station. This allows you to use the internet connection anywhere. The user downloads the application to the phone; it helps to choose the optimal position for the installation of the equipment. The antenna itself adjusts itself to the satellite’s signal and through the Wi-Fi terminal distributes the Internet directly to the user. In addition to Ukraine, Starlink operates in 29 countries. There are two rates of USD99 and USD499. In Ukraine, this service is temporarily free.