Ukraine has thanked tech billionaire Elon Musk after equipment to use SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service arrived in the country.

Mr Musk replied with “you are most welcome” after Ukraine‘s vice prime minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, expressed his thanks on Twitter.

Mr Fedorov also shared an image of the Starlink dishes on the back of a truck.

The vice prime minister had earlier asked Mr Musk for use of the service.

The SpaceX chief executive officer said over the weekend that Starlink was now “active” in Ukraine and more equipment to use it was on the way.

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Starlink — here. Thanks, @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/dZbaYqWYCf

Starlink is a satellite-based internet system that SpaceX has been building for years to bring internet access to underserved areas of the world.

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The terminals look like home satellite television dishes and can provide relatively fast internet service, by residential
standards, by connecting to a fleet of satellites in low orbit.

John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab project, has warned the terminals could become Russian targets.

He tweeted: “Re: @elonmusk’s starlink donation. Good to see. But remember: if #Putin controls the air above #Ukraine, users’ uplink transmissions become beacons … for airstrikes.”

“#Russia has decades of experience hitting people by targeting their satellite communications,” he added in a series of 15 tweets detailing the risks.

Re: @elonmusk's starlink donation.

Good to see.

But remember: if #Putin controls the air above #Ukraine, users' uplink transmissions become beacons… for airstrikes.

Some background 1/ pic.twitter.com/0p6J87TtUF

It comes as Russia told people in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv to leave their homes ahead of strikes on key intelligence targets.

Russia’s defence ministry said on Tuesday its forces would target the Security Service of Ukraine and the 72nd Center for Information and Psychological Operations (PSO) with strikes.

The defence ministry claimed the attacks would be designed to “thwart informational attacks against Russia”.

“We urge Ukrainian citizens involved by Ukrainian nationalists in provocations against Russia, as well as Kyiv residents living near relay stations, to leave their homes.”

That warning followed comments from a senior US official, who reportedly said Russia’s attack on Kyiv had “stalled“, with some units “surrendering without a fight” to Ukrainian troops.

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