Ukrainian officials first sounded the alarm about Russian Starlink use in early February, suggesting they were working with SpaceX and Musk to reduce Moscow’s front-line access to the units. Yet they declined to comment for this article, with some experts citing the need to keep the
unpredictable businessman on board as a reason for discretion.
“Musk is a big child, so it’s important to talk to him and don’t offend him here because he might make some quick decisions that might not be very good for everyone,” said Oleg Kutkov, a Kyiv-based internet analyst. He said Starlink should be able to restrict access to Russian-held terminals, but their purchase through third countries by Russian crowdfunders might complicate the task.
“The problem is to identify the actual owner of the account. It might be that in one location there are two terminals both (bought) from Poland, and one is working for (the) Ukrainian side and one for the Russian side. And SpaceX just don’t know who they should block,” he said.
In a bid to crack down on Russian Starlink use in occupied areas, Ukraine has sought to impose new legal conditions on satellite communications like Starlink terminals, creating a “whitelist” of registered devices authorised for use by Kyiv. SpaceX, Starlink’s owner, has sought Pentagon advice, according to a person familiar with the matter, on how to deal with the challenge of both satisfying Kyiv’s wishes that Starlink be accessible to Ukrainian forces across all Ukrainian territory, yet also denying Russian forces the service in front-line areas where opposing sides are often so close it is hard to determine the user of each terminal.
