Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, former engineer Oleg Kovalskyi decided to create a service called "Nebograi" to repair and modernise Starlink. Their team ensures reliable and uninterrupted satellite communication on the front lines. "Nebograi" has already restored over 7,000 Starlinks and converted over 600 on a car platform.
Online.ua found out from Oleg Kovalskyi which Starlink models are better not to buy for the military, how improved terminals save lives, and how to join the Nebograi team.
Starlink over Ukraine and the three "circles of hell"
I have devoted almost my entire career to telecommunications. The "Nebograi" team deals with various aspects of this field. We provide internet connection services, supply telecommunications equipment, and maintenance services. During the full-scale invasion, we began to assist with the repair of equipment, particularly servers for the military.
Later, I met Volodymyr Stepants, the head of the "Narodnyy [People's in English — Ed.] Starlink" project. He shared information that Elon Musk plans to activate Starlink over Ukraine.
My answer was questionable: "Are you kidding me? We must go through three hellish circles of bureaucratic procedures and get all possible approvals and certifications."
Some time passed, and suddenly, Musk announced that he was turning on Starlink over Ukraine and even provided a certain number of terminals. Stepanets purchased several terminals in Poland and transferred them to me in Lviv. This was the beginning of our friendship and "People's Starlink".
I personally held the first "Starlinks" that came to Ukraine in my hands in Lviv. In the beginning, he looked at them with special attention and caution. Starlink is a rather delicate device that is not intended for war at all. Therefore, we "blew off the dust" from the first terminals. Now we make fun of the fact that we are already "striking them like nuts".
Oleg Kovalskyi
founder of "Nebograi" group
How the "Nebograi" team works
A large flow of repairs began in the autumn. "Starlinks" literally began to break and destroy. Frequent breakdowns occurred because our military tried to hide Starlinks in pits on the battlefield, which were flooded due to constant rains.
I performed the first repairs to the satellite communications with my friend Taras. Then, my friends started joining us, so our team grew. By the way, our guys often spend the night in the office because they work until late at night. Then they lie on a small sofa, rest until morning and continue working again. Such situations occur repeatedly during the week.
Now there are only nine people in our "Nebograi" team. We perform 20 repairs daily, and near 100 weekly on average. Our team has already passed the mark of over 7,000 repaired Starlinks.
Starlink is the only regular communication means in the war
The supply of terminals to Ukraine has not yet been established. One of the gaps is SpaceX's reluctance to participate actively in this process. It has its policy, and that's all. When SpaceX turned on Starlink on the territory of Ukraine, they immediately said: "This is not for war, purely to help the territories where the telecommunications infrastructure has been destroyed. And that's all."
Starlink today is almost the only normal communication's mean in war. The only one.
What choice do we have? It was broken, but it is repairable. What's better? Should we repair it or buy a new one and wait for it? Well, and who can afford to wait?
The entire Ukraine is the geography from which Starlink comes for repairs, except for the front line, which stretches from the Kharkiv region to the sea. We do not refuse anyone. The only thing is that we try to filter necessity. Firstly, we try to repair those "Starlinks" that come directly from the war. We have such 90% of cases.
There are twice as many Starlinks in Ukraine as in Europe
[I want to tell a] fresh story. A guy called me through Signal two weeks ago and said he sent us another Starlink. I answered that we have a bit of a queue to receive parcels. He explained that he had crawled three kilometres to call me and asked me to repair it as soon as possible because they were already without communication and could not survive without it for a long time. This is the importance of Starlink repair.
Oleg Kovalskyi
founder of "Nebograi" group
There is no free Starlink in Ukraine. Everything is paid for by volunteers, the military, who buy it for themselves, foreign donors, and governments of other countries.
Those Starlinks that Elon Musk sent to Ukraine at the beginning of the war are no longer there, they have all been destroyed a long time ago. In addition, over 160,000 terminals are currently at war in Ukraine. The whole of Europe, together with Great Britain, has over 80 thousand [terminals] for comparison. We have twice as many of them.
The Starlink car version saved the lives of paramedics
A powerful "zest" of our "Nebograi" team specialists in transforming ordinary "Starlinks" into so-called car versions are those terminals that are attached to the car's roof.
We have already converted over 600 Starlinks for cars. It is very convenient. You place it on the roof with magnets and drive off.
Recently, the Starlink car version was very helpful for the paramedics to retrieve 300s [a nickname for wounded military — Ed.] in time. Since they had a connection on the way, they were given signal to stop, because there was a trap. And if they had no connection, otherwise they might not have returned.
Which Starlink model is the most expensive to repair?
The most difficult to repair is the business version of Starlink — HP (high performance). These are square, large, heavy and uncomfortable devices. I would like to see a person who buys them for the army. This model costs about €2000. For example, you can buy five ordinary "Starlinks" for these funds, which are not inferior in quality.
These HPs started appearing about half a year ago. At first, they were isolated cases. But then we learned that over 3000 to 5000 were purchased for the army, which caused surprise and misunderstanding. This model is a poor choice due to its weight, inconvenience, and high cost. Repairing such devices turned out to be a nightmare.
Oleg Kovalskyi
founder of "Nebograi" group
Our colleague Taras could repair five regular Starlink communication terminals while repairing only one HP model. This model is difficult to disassemble and expensive to fix, unlike ordinary "Starlinks".
The enemy has sound communication systems even without Starlink
Starlink has been in Russia for a long time. This is contrary to the ideas that some information resources try to present. Our war is not with the Aborigines. We are fighting a well-organised professional army that can adapt quickly and improve.
The war would have lasted much less if it had been only Aborigines. I learned about Starlink's presence in Russia back in December 2022. They have 3 to 5 thousand of them, although Starlink officially doesn't work in Russia. However, we cannot define a clear coverage area.
Ordinary soldiers do not have access to "Starlinks." Russia has a high level of Internet censorship. Therefore, no command staff will ever allow regular military personnel, such as Buryats or others involved in the war, to use the open Internet and receive information from it. They see them as cannon fodder, and "everything goes according to plan."
Through Starlink, Russians can receive truthful information, such as advertisements that reflect their losses. This is unacceptable for the Russian military command. Therefore, only their command staff can access such things.
Also, even without Starlink, the enemy has sound communication systems. We are behind in communications because their electronic warfare (EW) is effectively jamming our communications systems. They have an extensive communication infrastructure on the defence lines, where cables are everywhere.
"Nebograi" teaches those willing to repair Starlinks
First of all, we need to fix the field of Starlink repairs. A year ago, together with the AFU Command of the Communications and Cyber Security Forces, we conducted training for personnel aimed at ensuring that defenders personally perform repair work on military bases. Although the exercise was successful and many military members showed interest, not all participated effectively due to various circumstances.
I thought this could reduce our work volume, but unfortunately, it did not happen. Although many soldiers were introduced to the basics of repair work, not all were actively engaged in this task. Even if all the work is outsourced to military bases, they may lack the necessary resources and skills.
Oleg Kovalskyi
founder of "Nebograi" group
However, concerning consumables, the question arises: Who will purchase them? Also, consider the Starlink upgrade and conversion materials we source from China. Our processing cost generally includes glue, connectors, and sockets, which cost about 5000 hryvnias. However, if these materials are bought in Ukraine and not from production in China, the cost price increases by two or three times.
We always have enough spare parts in our office for about a thousand Starlinks. Cetainly, we take some parts from broken devices, but there are new parts that need to be purchased.
Who can become part of the "Nebograi" team?
People who understand elementary aspects of electronics can join the Nebograi team. They have a chance to learn from us. It is essential to understand that we don't conduct online training; we only do offline training so that people can acquire practical skills. Online format is more theoretical, and we don't have time for that. We learn by doing.
You can get the "Nebograi" team contacts for repairing Starlink satellite communication terminals here.
