KYIV, Oct 17 - The government will provide $17 million as additional funding for creation of the Lybid national satellite communications system for the State Space Agency of Ukraine (SSAU).

The funding was requested due to a force majeure caused by Russia’s occupation of Crimea, where Ukraine had the ground control system for the Lybid spacecraft.

The loss of the ground control system forced the government to increase the cost of the project to $281.6 million.