Russian attack | Soldiers Now Buy Elon Musk’s Devices That Can Help Russia Silence Ukraine – ‘Like From Another Galaxy’

Foreign countries|Russian invasion

Ukrainian in war, old and new ways of warfare work side by side. Russia’s attack on Ukraine has brought back to Europe the tank warfare, trenches and territorial conquests of the Second World War, but at the same time new technology, such as drones, has also played a major role.

This is not limited to weapon technology. The Ukrainians fighting a defensive war have applied, among others, to Silicon Valley’s billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s equipment of the Starlink network established by SpaceX.

Devices that provide internet via a satellite network bring a wireless network wherever there is electricity, in those countries where the service is available.

Starlink has been involved in the war in Ukraine since the beginning of the wider Russian invasion. Two days after the Russian attack, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister and minister responsible for digital affairs Mykhailo Fyodorov tweeted directly to Musk to request Starlink connections to Earth.

Musk responded within the same day, saying he had opened Starlink connections in Ukraine, and the first shipment of terminals arrived as early as February 28, just four days after the Russian attack.

On the Ukrainian front, enterprising Ukrainian soldiers have managed to get Starlink devices powered even from cars, when mains electricity or generators are not available.

One one of the many middlemen delivering Starlink devices to the front is an IT worker whom STT met in the suburbs of Kyiv Svyatoslav Potienko40. Potjejenko delivers Starlink terminals in about two weeks after the order to the front or elsewhere in Ukraine as a volunteer.

Due to the unofficial nature of the operation and the safety of the soldiers, Potjenko is silent about his collaborators in Western countries and how much equipment he delivers around Ukraine. The origins and destinations of the postal items on the lawn of the Ukrainian House are requested to be omitted from the photographs during the STT’s visit.

Potjenko aims to make ordering and commissioning the equipment as easy as possible for Ukrainian soldiers.

“Those on the frontline don’t have much IT know-how, so these terminals are something new for them. We help by making settings and organizing purchases from neighboring countries,” Potjejenko says.

This war is known to be the first conflict in which the Starlink system has been used on the battlefield. SpaceX’s satellite network began to be launched into low Earth orbit in 2019, and this year it already consists of more than 3,000 satellites. The company plans to increase the number to at least 12,000 and later up to 40,000.

Ukrainian soldiers use Starlink connections not only for communications with the domestic population, but also for military communications, reported Politico in August. SpaceX’s satellite connection has been used, among other things, for artillery and drone strikes.

One advantage of Starlink has been that Russia has not succeeded in silencing any part of Ukraine or isolating it from the outside world.

Most The Starlink terminals imported into Ukraine go through the official arrangements of the Ukrainian government, but volunteers like Potjenko support this with their own unofficial import activities.

A typical subscriber is, for example, a group of 10 soldiers who collect the common funds to buy a terminal device. In Ukraine, the price of a single device is in the range of 350–450 euros, in addition to which there is a monthly fee for the connection.

Starlink is often the only way for soldiers to access the internet when cable connections, mobile data and sometimes even electricity are out. So can’t Russia disrupt or spy on Starlink connections used by Ukrainians?

“No dice. Sometimes we think that this technology is like from another galaxy,” Potjejenko describes.

The Starlink terminal is a white antenna plate the size of a large tray with support legs. It has proven its suitability for the battlefield, as the terminal can be camouflaged in the terrain without disturbing the signal. The Ukrainians have also made field-colored backpacks for the soldiers for Stalin’s terminal devices.

Elon Musk won the Ukrainians over with his Starlink decision, but as is his way, the billionaire has since managed to anger the country by sharing his own opinions on how to end the war in Ukraine.

October 3rd Musk tweeted for its readers to vote on the proposal that the war in Ukraine could be resolved by holding a UN-supervised referendum on which country the regions want to belong to in the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia.

In addition, according to Musk, Crimea should belong to Russia, as it did before the leader of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev “mistake”. Khrushchev annexed the Crimean peninsula to the Ukrainian Soviet Republic.

“This is probably the end result, it’s just a matter of how many people die before then,” Musk wrote of his proposed model for Ukraine’s future.

This was answered by a Ukrainian diplomat Andri Melnykwho is also known for his undiplomatic language.

“‘Fuck off’ is my diplomatic answer to you. The only end result here is that no Ukrainian will buy your fucking Tesla sonta anymore,” Melnyk snapped.

The President of Ukraine also countered Volodymyr Zelenskyi conducted a poll on Twitter asking whether people prefer Musk’s pro-Ukraine or pro-Russia personality.