RAccording to Ukrainian intelligence reports, Russia's army is using tech billionaire Elon Musk's Starlink satellite communications system in occupied areas. Ukrainian radio surveillance intercepted conversations from the Russian occupiers that proved this, the HUR military intelligence service said on Telegram on Sunday. The authority also released an audio file that is said to come from the occupied side of the front area. A man's voice can be heard saying in Russian, among other things: “Starlink works, there is internet.” Musk's company SpaceX, which operates Starlink, has emphasized that it does not do business with the Russian government or military.
“SpaceX has never sold or marketed Starlink in Russia, nor has it delivered any equipment to sites in Russia,” the company wrote on the X (formerly Twitter) platform last Thursday. If SpaceX learns of cases in which Starlink terminals are being used without permission, the company will investigate and, if necessary, shut down the terminal, it said.
Middlemen in Dubai?
The US portal “Defense One”, citing anonymous sources in the Ukrainian military, reported that Russian soldiers began using Starlink in the war zone months ago. There were also reports that the Starlink terminals ended up with the Russians through intermediaries in Dubai. This has not yet been proven. Starlink has stated that the service is not available in Dubai, that no devices can be ordered there and that there are no authorized sales there.
Starlink plays a major role for Ukraine in defending itself against the Russian war of aggression that has been going on for almost two years. After the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, SpaceX made numerous Starlink terminals available to Ukraine and initially did not charge any fees for their operation. In the meantime, however, there have been resentments in Kiev – for example when Musk announced a few months ago that he had prevented a Ukrainian attack on the Russian Black Sea Fleet by refusing to activate Starlink in the region around the annexed Crimean peninsula.
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