Ukrainian Intelligence Says Russian Troops Use Starlink in Occupied Territories

Russian troops in Ukraine. (Wikimedia Commons/Mil.ru)

JAKARTA - Ukraine's military intelligence agency said on Sunday that Russian troops were using Starlink terminals produced by Elon Musk's SpaceX for satellite internet in what was starting to look like a "systemic" application.

In a statement, the agency said the terminals were used by units such as Russia's 83rd Air Assault Brigade, which was fighting near the cities of Klishchiivka and Andriivka in the partially occupied eastern region of Donetsk.

"Cases of the use of these devices by Russian invaders have been recorded. This is starting to become systemic," said the Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR) of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, citing a statement from spokesman Andriy Yusov, as reported by Reuters, February 12.

The statement is Ukraine's first official statement about Russia's alleged use of Starlink.

The terminals were used to assist Ukraine following Russia's invasion in February 2022 and are vital for battlefield communications in Kyiv.

Two Ukrainian government sources said early last week that Russian use of Starlink had been detected in occupied Ukraine. One of them said they were trying to get data on the scale of use.

GUR said it had intercepted a conversation between two soldiers discussing setting up the terminal. They posted what they said were audio clips of message exchanges on Telegram as evidence.

However, GUR did not say how the terminal was obtained by Russian forces – whether it was acquired from abroad or captured from Ukrainian forces.

Meanwhile, Starlink says it does not do any business with the Russian government or military. In a Sunday post made on X, Musk wrote, "To the best of our knowledge, no Starlink has been sold directly or indirectly to Russia."

"A number of fake news reports claim that SpaceX is selling Starlink terminals to Russia," Musk said in X.

"This is completely wrong," he continued.

Starlink said on Feb. 8 that its terminals were not active in Russia and that SpaceX had never sold or marketed the service in Russia, or shipped equipment to locations in Russia.

In a statement posted on X, Starlink said nothing about its possible use in occupied Ukraine.

"If SpaceX learns that a Starlink terminal is being used by a sanctioned or unauthorized party, we investigate the claim and take action to decommission the terminal if confirmed," he said.

Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Defense did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment regarding this matter.