Ukraine's military intelligence, GUR, assured today that Russian troops use billionaire Elon Musk's Starlink satellite network on the front, a system whose use was only intended to guarantee connectivity for Ukrainians and so that Ukrainian forces could communicate. each other.
"The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine confirms the use of Starlink satellite communication systems by the Russian occupiers on the front," the GUR wrote on its Telegram channel this Sunday.
The GUR maintained that radio interception of the Russians' conversation shows that to establish Internet access Starlink terminals were installed, for example, in units of the Russian 83rd Assault Brigade" operating in the eastern Donetsk region, near Klishchivka and Andrivka.
Spokesman for the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Ukraine, Andri Yusov, told the RBC Ukraine newspaper that "this is beginning to take on a systemic character."
Russian troops' use of the satellite network has generated controversy in Ukraine, as last year a new biography of Musk revealed that the owner of Starlink asked his engineers to disable Starlink satellites used by Ukraine to thwart an attack. of Ukrainian forces against the Russian fleet near Crimea.
For this reason, the question has arisen on social networks as to why Musk cannot deactivate the terminals used by the Russians if he did so at that time with the Ukrainians.
SpaceX, which controls the Starlink company and which also belongs to Musk, assured as a result of the controversy generated now that Starlink "is not active in Russia, which means that the service will not work in that country."
"SpaceX has never sold or marketed Starlink in Russia, nor has it shipped equipment to locations in Russia. If Russian stores claim to sell Starlink to offer service in that country, they are scamming their customers," he said, although his message only stated refers to Russia and not to the Ukrainian territories it currently occupies.
"If SpaceX becomes aware that a sanctioned or unauthorized party is using a Starlink terminal, we investigate the claim and take action to disable the terminal if confirmed," he added.
