Is Elon Musk helping Russia on the Ukrainian front?
In any case, that's what kyiv and its intelligence services think, according to which Russian forces have started using billionaire Elon Musk's Starlink satellite Internet access service.
This network was previously used only by Ukrainian troops.
“Yes, cases of use of these devices by the Russian occupiers have been recorded.
This is starting to take on a systemic character,” Andriï Yussov, spokesperson for the Main Directorate of Ukrainian Military Intelligence, told the RBC-Ukraine newspaper this Saturday.
According to the UNIAN news agency, radio interceptions have established that Russian units stationed near Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, have “begun massive use of Starlink on the front.”
Starlink has a network of more than 2,000 small satellites in low orbit above the earth, which help provide Internet access.
Terrestrial terminals are then connected to routers which make it possible to generate wifi and therefore Internet access.
25,000 Starlink terminals deployed in Ukraine
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Elon Musk's company, SpaceX, has delivered thousands of terminals there which provide a connection to the Internet.
Some 25,000 terminals have been deployed in the country.
This network is essential for the Ukrainian army's communications, and was not previously used by Russian forces.
According to Ukrainian military bloggers, Russia was able to acquire Starlink terminals through third countries.
If the network is blocked in Russia, Russian troops in Ukraine can potentially gain access to it.
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Ukraine and Elon Musk have a complex relationship.
kyiv had thanked him for deploying its satellites, but later became outraged when he proposed that the country cede territory to achieve peace.
The billionaire also claimed to have prevented a Ukrainian attack on a Russian navy base in 2022 by refusing a request from kyiv to activate Internet access via Starlink in the Black Sea, near Crimea annexed by Moscow.