ICEYE and Nokia Sign Ukraine Satcom Letter of Intent

Ukraine’s defence ministry has signed a letter of intent with two Finnish companies, ICEYE and Nokia, to explore building satellite communications that Ukraine would own and control. The two companies said on 22 October that they had “signed a Letter of Intent with The Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, to explore cooperation in space”, aimed “particularly” at “building sovereign satellite communications” (ICEYE; Nokia).

It is a first step, not a contract. Neither company has disclosed funding, a procurement plan or a timeline for Ukraine. The letter was announced during Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s visit to Kyiv.

In brief

Ukraine’s defence ministry, ICEYE and Nokia signed a letter of intent on 22 October to explore satellite communications Ukraine would own.
Zelenskyy confirmed the agreement; no value, contract or timeline has been given for it.
It builds on ICEYE and Nokia’s 1 October plan, which expects first satellites in 2028.

What was signed, and by whom

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, confirmed the agreement after meeting Orpo. “We agreed to make greater use of Finland’s satellite capabilities – this is important for our defense and Ukraine’s resilience. We reached agreements on this with Nokia and ICEYE,” he wrote on X. He said seven documents were signed during the visit, and that “the total value of today’s agreements is €300 million”. That figure covers all seven. No value has been given for the ICEYE and Nokia letter.

According to Interfax-Ukraine, the letter was signed by Deputy Defence Minister Serhiy Boiev, a Nokia Defense vice-president and Volodymyr Tsabal, chief executive of ICEYE Ukraine. The agency describes it as a letter of intent “on cooperation in the space sector, including the development of the Defense Ministry’s satellite communications capabilities”.

Both companies issued statements. “Ukraine needs secure, sovereign and high-performance satellite communications systems that it controls,” said Rafal Modrzewski, ICEYE’s chief executive and co-founder. “We have a proven track record of delivering sovereign missions at speed to help build that capability. ICEYE has proudly supported Ukraine since 2022, and we remain committed to continuing that support today.”

Mikko Hautala, Nokia’s Chief Geopolitical & Government Relations Officer and Chairman of Nokia Defense, framed it around keeping people connected. “Nations need communications they can rely on in every situation. Satellite networks extend and protect connectivity when networks on the ground are disrupted. This makes them a key part of any secure communications system,” he said. “Through this Letter of Intent, together with Ukraine and ICEYE, we will explore how trusted, sovereign satellite communications can strengthen Ukraine’s resilience and give it control over the connectivity it depends on.”

The system ICEYE and Nokia are building

The letter builds on a partnership the two companies announced on 1 October (ICEYE). They plan broadband satellite networks in low Earth orbit for governments, covering “missions from defense and border security to emergency services and disaster response”. The idea is that the customer country owns “the satellites, ground segment and terminals”, rather than renting capacity from someone else’s network.

ICEYE, best known for radar imaging satellites, would supply the spacecraft. Nokia brings secure networking. Together, they said, they will integrate satellites, ground stations and “ruggedized end-user terminals”. The systems are “designed to complement military and commercial networks rather than replace them”, adding capacity over chosen areas. The first communications satellites “are expected to be launched in 2028”. That date applies to the programme as a whole; nothing has been said about when, or whether, Ukraine would get a system.

At the October launch, Modrzewski put the case plainly: “Nations must be able to fully own and control their communications, without dependency on a foreign commercial operator’s terms of service.” He pointed to ICEYE’s record: “We delivered Poland its own radar satellite system in under a year.”

The pitch sits alongside other European efforts on satellite connectivity, including four EU telecoms operators exploring a joint bid for satellite-to-phone spectrum, and a wider debate about how much of the supply chain Europe controls.

The Starshield question

Space.com linked the letter directly to recent disruption of Ukraine’s Starshield service, under the headline “After Starshield interruption, Ukraine wants to build its own satellite communication network”. TSN has reported on the dispute over who ordered limits on those terminals. Neither ICEYE, Nokia nor Zelenskyy mentioned Starshield or SpaceX in their statements, so that connection is Space.com’s reading rather than the parties’ stated reason.

ICEYE’s work with Ukraine has drawn attention before: earlier this month trackers reported that a Russian satellite was shadowing a US-registered ICEYE radar satellite.

Ownership, not speed, is the selling point

What ICEYE and Nokia are offering is control. Both statements lean on the same words, “sovereign”, “control” and “trusted”, rather than on speed or coverage. Modrzewski’s line about a “foreign commercial operator’s terms of service” names the risk directly: if someone else runs the network, someone else can change the rules. Hautala’s quote makes the civilian case for the same idea, that satellites keep people connected “when networks on the ground are disrupted”.

That pitch carries real limits. A letter of intent commits no one to buy anything. There is no price, no satellite count and no Ukrainian timetable, and the only date on the table, a first launch in 2028, belongs to a programme announced only three weeks ago. The 1 October release also says the systems would add to existing networks, not replace them. Even if Ukraine goes ahead, it would still rely on other providers for years.

The letter does show that a government is willing to put its name to the ownership model at an early stage, and it gives ICEYE and Nokia a high-profile first partner to point to. Whether that turns into satellites depends on things none of the parties has yet disclosed, starting with who pays.