Western Satellite Helps Ukraine, Russia: Target Sah For Reply Attacks

Russian military illustration. (Source: Russian Ministry of Defense)

JAKARTA - A senior Russian Foreign Ministry official said commercial satellites from the United States and its allies could be a legitimate target for Russia if they engage in the war in Ukraine.

Russia, which in 1957 launched the first man-made Sputnik 1, a satellite into space and in 1961 put the first humans in space, has significant offensive space capabilities, just like the United States and China.

In 2021, Russia launched an anti-satellite missile to destroy one of its own satellites.

Konstantin Vorontsov, deputy director of Russia's Foreign Ministry department for non-proliferation and arms control, told the United Nations, the United States and its allies are trying to use space to uphold Western domination.

Vorontsov, reading from records, said the use of Western satellites to help Ukraine's war efforts was a "very dangerous trend".

"The quasi-cillary infrastructure may be a legitimate target for the retaliatory attack," Vorontsov told the UN's First Committee, adding that Western use of such satellites to support Ukraine was "provocative".

"We are talking about the involvement of civilian space infrastructure components, including commercial, by the United States and its allies in armed conflict," Vorontsov continued as quoted at the United Nations.

Vorontsov did not mention certain satellite companies, although Elon Musk said earlier this month that his rocket company SpaceX would continue to fund Starlink internet services in Ukraine, citing the need for "good action."

The war in Ukraine has killed tens of thousands, damaged post-COVID's global economic recovery and sparked the most severe confrontation with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.