Ukraine’s intelligence chief says ‘all Ukrainian fronts’ use Starling, network not operational ‘on time’ in Crimea
A Ukrainian soldier cuts off his Starling on the front line during a ceasefire declared by Russia during the Orthodox Christmas period on January 6, 2023. (Photo: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters)
According to Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR), Ukraine is using Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite systems on all fronts, Interfax Ukraine reported.
“They’ve proven themselves on the front line, you can say whatever you want about them [los sistemas Starlink] They are good or bad, but facts are facts. Of course all the front lines use them,” Budanov said Saturday, speaking at the annual European conference in Yalta, organized by the Viktor Pinchuk Foundation.
The Ukrainian intelligence chief positively assessed the Starling’s role in the war.
“They have played and will continue to play an important role because many systems use antennas, Starlink systems themselves, for communications, for drone transmissions, especially based on a remote command post.”
Budanov also said Starlink coverage in Russian-occupied Crimea “hasn’t worked for a while.”
“I can absolutely confirm that the Starlink systems were not working for a certain period near Crimea. We immediately realized that there was no coverage there. That’s all I can tell you,” Budanov said.
This follows revelations from a new biography of Starling’s owner, written by Walter Isaacson and titled “Elon Musk”.
‘Elon Musk’ by Walter Isaacson. (Photo: Simon & Schuster)
According to part of the book, Musk last year secretly ordered his engineers to shut down his company’s Starlink satellite communications network near the coast of Crimea, disrupting a Ukrainian sneak attack on the Russian navy.
When Ukrainian underwater drones loaded with explosives approached the Russian fleet, “they lost contact and washed ashore harmlessly,” Isaacson writes.
Musk’s decision to plead with Ukrainian officials to restart the satellites was driven by grave fears that Russia would respond with nuclear weapons to a Ukrainian attack on Crimea. to Isaacson.
Musk did not respond to CNN’s request for comment before publication. But he responded to a piece of Isaacson’s book Thursday night on a platform he owns called Twitter, saying the Starlink service provided by his company, SpaceX, had never been operational in Crimea and that the Ukrainian government had made an urgent request to him. To activate the service.
“There was an urgent request from government officials to activate Starlink to Sevastopol,” Musk posted on X, his official Twitter account. Sevastopol is a port city in Crimea. “The apparent objective is to sink the bulk of the Russian fleet at anchor. “If I had accepted their request, SpaceX would be openly complicit in a major war and escalate the conflict.”
