MOSCOW, March 6. /TASS/. Former Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) officer Vasily Prozorov doubted the European Union can find a replacement for Starlink for the provision of reconnaissance data services to Ukraine.

Reuters earlier quoted sources as saying that the United States is considering cutting Ukraine off from Starlink as a measure to pressure Kiev into agreeing to a bilateral deal on rare earths.

"No, I don’t think so. Nobody has as large a fleet of satellites as the United States," Prozorov said, when asked if he thinks the EU will be able to replace the United States as a provider of recon data to the Ukrainian armed forces.

Earlier, a European Commission spokesperson, Thomas Regnier, told reporters that the bloc is working to develop an alternative to Starlink for Ukraine but that it will become operational by 2030 only. Commenting on this information, Prozorov opined that the EU will hardly replace Starlink any time soon. "There is a huge amount of Starlink satellites - not a single European [country] or even the EU as a whole can launch as many space rockets to orbit so many satellites," the former SBU officer concluded.