Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed seven agreements with Finland on Thursday, 22 October 2026, among them deals to widen Kyiv’s use of Finnish satellite capabilities through Nokia and ICEYE, according to the Kyiv Post.
The documents were signed at the Ukrainian-Finnish Business Forum after talks with Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government. Ukrainian Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi said they set out possible cooperation in defence production, rail transport, energy and housing construction.
The outlet frames the satellite element directly against SpaceX’s Starlink, reporting that recent disruptions exposed how far Ukraine’s defence depends on a single private provider able to restrict service without warning. Zelensky put the rationale plainly: “We agreed that we will make greater use of Finland’s satellite capabilities,” he said in remarks carried by the Kyiv Post, adding that it mattered for Ukraine’s defence and resilience.
What Nokia and ICEYE actually provide — and what they don’t
Neither named company is a like-for-like replacement for Starlink’s satellite internet. ICEYE, headquartered in Espoo, builds and operates small synthetic-aperture radar satellites: they image the ground through cloud and darkness, producing reconnaissance data rather than carrying user traffic. Nokia is a telecom-equipment vendor, selling the radio and transport gear that runs terrestrial mobile and fixed networks; it does not run a consumer broadband constellation.
The Kyiv Post’s account of Thursday’s documents does not specify which capabilities the two sides will share, or whether any part of the package covers the kind of mobile battlefield data link that Starlink terminals give Ukrainian drone crews. No source cited here characterises the Finnish contribution one way or the other; reading it as complementary rather than as a second source of satellite broadband is this site’s inference from the two companies’ published lines of business, not a sourced assessment, and it would change if Kyiv or Helsinki published the annexes.
Key facts
- Seven agreements signed on 22 October between Ukraine and Finland, per the Kyiv Post.
- Value: the Kyiv Post’s article text puts the package at nearly €300 million (roughly $337 million, implying a conversion of about $1.12 to the euro), while the same outlet’s summary says over €300 million. We are treating the lower figure as the working number; as of 23 October 2026 neither Kyiv nor Helsinki had published a line-by-line breakdown, and this item will be corrected if one appears.
- Satellite cooperation is to run through Nokia and ICEYE, the two Finnish companies named in the agreements.
- ICEYE’s business is radar imaging satellites and Nokia’s is telecom network equipment — neither sells satellite internet service to end users.
- Ukrainian drone manufacturers are exploring expanded joint production with Finnish companies on Finnish soil.
Why it matters for the satellite internet market
The Kyiv Post reports that Ukraine and its European partners are searching for alternatives to Starlink after the October outage. What has actually reached the table so far is not a competing subscription: Europe’s own plans for a Starlink rival, as reported this week, are a letter of intent between four companies rather than an operating network, and the Finnish agreements name an imaging operator and an equipment vendor.
For civilian subscribers that leaves the commercial picture unchanged. Starlink remains the only low-Earth-orbit network selling a consumer broadband subscription direct to households across most of Europe — OneWeb, the European LEO system already in service, reaches customers through enterprise distributors — so its hardware charge and monthly tariff still have no European service priced against them, as our background coverage of satellite internet coverage and pricing sets out. The precedent Ukraine is setting is in procurement rather than retail: a government contracting space capability from more than one supplier so that one company’s terms cannot be rewritten overnight without a fallback.
How the Starlink speed caps hit Ukraine’s drones
Overnight on 13-14 October, speed restrictions were imposed on Starlink terminals without prior warning, crippling Ukraine’s drone operations, the Kyiv Post reports. The same report says connectivity dropped out on terminals moving at roughly 160 kilometres per hour (100 miles per hour) or faster, while Ukraine’s aircraft needed at least 450 kilometres per hour (280 miles per hour) — a threshold that took out several drone types used against Russian attacks, including interceptors flown against jet-powered Shaheds. Those speed figures rest on the Kyiv Post alone: the Anadolu Agency, Yle and Epoch Times reports cited below deal with the defence agreements and do not address the thresholds.
The restrictions coincided with a reported week-long suspension of US intelligence sharing that left Kyiv without allied warnings of Russian ballistic missile attacks — the subject of the restored missile warnings reported separately. Zelensky has accused those responsible of deliberately restricting the service during Russian attacks, saying it weakened Ukraine’s defences and endangered civilians; see also reporting on who ordered the slowdown.
Also on Thursday, US Vice President JD Vance said Elon Musk should not be at the centre of the dispute, noting that Musk runs a private corporation and framing the row instead as a question of US policy toward Russia’s war, the Kyiv Post reports.
The September defence pact behind the satellite deals
The October package follows a defence and security agreement signed in New York on 23 September by Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Zelensky on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Finland’s Defence Ministry said it provides for technology and knowledge transfers, joint research and development and industrial production projects, and aims to streamline administrative procedures including export permits, Anadolu Agency reported.
Orpo said Finland could learn from Ukraine’s wartime development of its defence industry, and that the deal would help Finland prepare for more technological warfare; Defence Minister Antti Häkkänen said it would create opportunities for Finnish defence companies, according to the same report. Stubb said the agreement takes defence cooperation to the next level and enables joint production of defence materiel, The Epoch Times reported. Yle adds that three Finnish companies — Patria, Insta and Boomeranger — signed memorandums of understanding with Ukrainian firms on joint production at the same time, and that Zelensky first proposed the deal to Orpo when the two met in Armenia in May.
Also agreed
The rest of Thursday’s package, per the Kyiv Post, sits outside the satellite file:
- Finland will hand over 10 Dv12 diesel locomotives and spare parts to state railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia free of charge; Koretskyi said Finland is the first country to donate locomotives to Ukraine at no cost, answering a mid-September appeal by Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha for engines compatible with Ukraine’s 1,520-millimetre gauge.
- Employers’ associations from both countries plan a Ukrainian-Finnish Industrial Council, and a separate project covers industrial housing construction.
- The governments agreed to share experience in protecting critical infrastructure and discussed Ukraine’s need for mobile shelters.
- Kyiv invited Finland to join its War Risk Insurance Fund.
- The two sides discussed using Ukraine’s large unused gas storage and transmission system to help Europe build strategic non-commercial reserves.
Frequently Asked Questions
What exactly is Ukraine’s "Drone Deal" format?
The Epoch Times describes it as a 10-year flexible agreement under which Kyiv works with international partners on bespoke defence and security solutions, including air defence development, training programmes and drone technologies. Yle reports the terms run along similar lines in each country: Ukraine receives weapons, while the partner gains expertise and a licence to produce drones and other weapons, usually on the partner’s own soil.
Which other countries have signed Drone Deals with Ukraine?
The count matters to readers following satellite rollout because this is the template Kyiv is now extending to space capability — several national suppliers instead of one. Anadolu Agency reports that Latvia signed in June, followed by Estonia, the Netherlands and Denmark in July, with the EU announcing a partnership the same month to expand joint production of drones and counter-drone systems. Yle puts the total at around 10 countries.
Have the Starlink speed restrictions on Ukraine been lifted?
The sources do not confirm that they have. The Kyiv Post reports that after meeting US envoy Steve Witkoff in Oslo on Tuesday, 20 October, Zelensky said intelligence sharing had resumed and that progress on the Starlink restrictions and on Patriot interceptors could come within 48 hours.
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