Pierre Krom/Getty Images/File
On December 28, 2023, in Donetsk, Ukraine, the Starlink system for receiving the Internet was placed on the front line.
CNN
—
Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Service claims to have confirmed the use of Starlink satellite communications by Russian forces in the occupied territories.
It said it had intercepted conversations indicating that Starlink terminals were being used to provide internet access to Russia’s 83rd Air Assault Brigade operating in the Donetsk region.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which owns Starlink, says it has no business with the Russian government or military.
“If SpaceX receives information that a Starlink device is being used by a sanctioned or unauthorized party, we will investigate the allegation and, if confirmed, take steps to disable the device,” the company said in a statement. We will take measures.”
Starlink, which uses a satellite network to provide broadband, has said its service does not work in Russia, but the statement did not say whether it would work in occupied Ukraine.
This service plays an important role in communications on the battlefields of Ukraine. Last year, Kirillo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate, said: “Without a doubt, all fronts use them.”
Ukraine’s claims follow revelations about the use of satellite systems in wars made in the biography of Starlink owner Elon Musk, written by Walter Isaacson.
Last year, Mr. Musk secretly ordered engineers to shut down his company’s Starlink satellite communications network near the coast of Crimea to thwart a surprise Ukrainian attack on a Russian naval fleet, according to excerpts from the book.
When a Ukrainian submarine drone loaded with explosives approached the Russian fleet, it “lost connection and washed up harmlessly on shore,” Isaacson wrote.
Musk’s decision, which was implored by Ukrainian officials to turn the satellite back on, was driven by deep fears that Russia would respond with nuclear weapons to Ukraine’s attack on Crimea. He reported that his conversations with high-ranking officials made him keenly aware of that fear. Isaacson.