By Max Hunder
KYIV, Jan 29 (Reuters) – Ukraine is working with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to stop Russia from guiding drones using the firm’s Starlink internet system, the defence minister said on Thursday, after Kyiv said it had found Starlinks on long-range drones used in Russian attacks.
A Ukrainian official has posted pictures this week on social media of the wreckage of long-range Russian drones with Starlink terminals attached, and said Russia may have used Musk’s system to guide drones that hit a Ukrainian passenger train on Tuesday.
“We are grateful to SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell and personally to Elon Musk for the quick response and the start of work on resolving the situation,” Ukraine’s Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
“Western technology must continue to help the democratic world and protect civilians, rather than being used for terrorism and destroying peaceful cities.”
SpaceX did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment. Musk turned on Starlink service over Ukraine in 2022 after Kyiv pleaded for help in the first days following Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Despite Musk’s subsequent clashes with Ukrainian officials over his views on the war, Ukraine’s military still relies on tens of thousands of Starlinks for battlefield communication and for piloting some drone missions.
They are favoured for their stable connection on the battlefield and for their resistance to enemy signal jamming.
In a social media post in February 2024, SpaceX said it does not sell or ship Starlink to Russia, and “does not do business of any kind with the Russian Government or its military”.
The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War said it had seen reports of Russia using Starlink-equipped Shahed long-range drones beginning in September 2024.
‘HUNDREDS’ OF STARLINK-EQUIPPED DRONES
Serhiy Beskrestnov, a newly appointed adviser to Fedorov, drew attention to the issue over the past week by posting pictures on social media of the wreckage of long-range Russian drones, including Shaheds, with Starlink terminals.
On Tuesday, Beskrestnov said that Shahed drones manually flown by pilots, possibly through Starlink, had attacked a passenger train in northeastern Ukraine. That attack killed five people, and was denounced by Kyiv as an act of terrorism.
On Thursday, Beskrestnov said there had been “hundreds” of cases where Starlink-enabled Russian drones had attacked Ukraine.
“The complexity of this process lies in the fact that Starlink cannot be suppressed by means of electronic warfare, and even their position in flight cannot be detected by reconnaissance equipment,” he wrote, adding that the way to solve the issue was therefore through SpaceX.
(Reporting by Max Hunder, Dan Peleschuk and Cassell Bryan-LowAdditional reporting by Yuliia DysaEditing by Daniel Flynn and Peter Graff)
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