Tesla founder Elon Musk believes that Russia will not be able to destroy his network of the Starlink satellite system developed by his other company, SpaceX.
The SpaceX probe flies above low Earth orbit, which allows it to broadcast the Internet to the world.
Musk - the world's richest man - says his Starlink network is safe from Russian missile sabotage attempts.
Ukraine thanks Mask
Ukraine's deputy prime minister thanked Musk for shipping Starlink satellite dishes that the billionaire recently sent in an attempt to keep Ukraine online during Russia's war on it.
Musk donated a truckload of dishes to a war-torn Ukraine whose communications had been damaged, shipping thousands of satellite receivers to the Ukrainians, allowing them to stay connected despite the destruction of traditional internet sources.
Musk previously revealed concerns that Russia might spy on Starlink communications, but in a new interview he said he was not worried about Russia destroying Starlink satellites with missiles.
In an interview with Business Insider, Musk told Business Insider that there are now too many Starlinks in the sky, and that SpaceX is launching more satellites faster than the Kremlin's war machine can shoot them down from space.
"If Russia tries to remove Starlink, it is not easy, because there are two thousand satellites," he said. "This means a lot of anti-satellite missiles... I hope we don't have to test this scenario."
"But I think we can launch satellites faster than they can launch anti-satellite missiles," he added.
Musk earlier expressed his concerns that Russia might spy on Starlink communications (Reuters)
Mask solves the energy problem
Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Affairs, Mikhailo Fedorov, said the Starlink satellites were a key part in keeping emergency services connected.
But with power outages in some areas, he warned that the country now needs generators to keep the dishes running.
Musk responded that he has updated the software that powers the satellites to reduce energy consumption, which means Starlink can operate at lower power, and has also activated mobile roaming features, so that moving vehicles can stay connected to the Internet, too.
Speaking about the war in Ukraine, Musk admitted that he was shocked that it happened, and said, "It's amazing to see that in this day and age," and added, "I thought we'd kind of moved past these events and became focused on beyond wars and conflicts."
He stressed the need to confront Russia, saying: "If it can get away with it, this will be a message to other countries that maybe they can get away with it too."
Russia does not plan to attack Starlink
Russia, for its part, has not indicated that it plans to attack the Starlink network with missiles, but the country that launched a war on its neighbor Ukraine has been tentatively linked to the "satellite sabotage" that occurred at the same time as the war began.
Russian President Vladimir Putin recently said satellite hacking is "another reason to go to war," amid reports that hacker group Anonymous has shut down Roscosmos, Russia's federal space agency.
Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin denied there had been a hack, but issued a strongly worded threatening message to anyone who might attempt to do so.
"I want to warn everyone who tries to do this that it is basically a crime that should be severely punished," he told Russian media. "Disrupting the satellite array in any country is generally a reason for war," and we will look for those behind it.