00:00Is Elon Musk alluring Russia to use Starlink?
00:06On the 27th of January, the Polish deputy prime minister called on Elon Musk to stop Russian forces from using Starlink to target Ukrainian cities, accusing him of making money from war crimes.
00:19It followed a post by Sergiy Beskhenznov, a Ukrainian defense advisor, showing what he said was a Russian drone controlled via Starlink.
00:26The Institute for the Study of War confirmed that Russian forces were increasingly using Starlink satellite systems to extend the range of BM-35 strike drones.
00:36Starlink is a satellite internet network operated by Elon Musk's SpaceX that has been widely used in Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion.
00:44It's used by the military to communicate and operate drones. It's also used by the government, civilians and hospitals.
00:51There have been reports of Russia using Starlink in the past. In 2024, Ukrainian units reported outages in their Starlink connections, sparking similar warnings.
01:01But there is no evidence to suggest that Starlink has any contracts or ties with Russia.
01:06So it's not that Elon Musk has been selling them directly, but they've been able to get hold of them through either secondary turn markets or through capture.
01:15They could have got them through other allies supplying them from other places, whether that's coming from different places like UAE is one of those places, or Turkey or wherever else had to be able to get them.
01:31Ukraine says it asked SpaceX to block Russian forces from using Starlink.
01:35Elon Musk later said on X that SwissX had taken steps to stop what he called unauthorized use, adding that the measures appear to be effective.
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