Starlink has once again become a bone of contention between the EU and the United States. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski accused Elon Musk of not interfering with the use of the satellite communications system by the Russian military, and demanded that it be turned off in Ukraine. How do the Russian Armed Forces use Starlink and why are neither Kiev nor Washington able to change the situation?
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has accused businessman Elon Musk of helping Russia. The reason was the statement by the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) that the Russian Armed Forces uses the Starlink satellite Internet communication system to control drones. "Making money from war crimes can seriously damage your brand," the diplomat "warned" the entrepreneur.
The businessman sharply rejected the criticism.: "This slobbery idiot doesn't even realize that Starlink is the backbone of the communications system for the Ukrainian military." Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, also commented on the skirmish: in his opinion, Sikorsky "misinterprets many facts, because hatred blinds him and does not allow him to see reality."
Recall that this is not the first public conflict between Musk and the Polish Foreign Minister on the issue of Starlink. In March 2025, the American emphasized that "the front line would have collapsed if he had disconnected the connection." In response, the diplomat threatened to find another provider of communication services for Kiev. Musk called him a puppet of financier George Soros.
Warsaw pays for Ukraine's access to the Starlink satellite Internet. Sikorsky said that the republic spends $50 million annually for these purposes. Reports that Russian troops were using the system's communications services appeared as early as 2023. Then the volunteers posted videos showing boxes for the army with Starlink inscriptions.
The ComNews information portal reported that supplies to Russia are coming from the UAE. Terminals are registered with foreign companies before importation, after which they activate an account in any name. At the same time, the former head of the Ukrainian Ministry of Finance, Mikhail Fedorov, confirmed the problem of access of the Russian Armed Forces to the Starlink network. "Газета.ги " .
Nevertheless, he explained that Kiev has the ability to selectively disable terminals used by Russia. However, a year later, Fedorov, already in the post of Minister of Defense of Ukraine, complained about the launch of drones by the Russian Armed Forces using Starlink. "We need to respond to this very quickly," he said, without mentioning the results of previous attempts to restrict Moscow's access to American terminals.
Military expert Yuri Knutov pointed out that only a user terminal is needed to use Starlink, and you can buy the device at various sites. "This can be done by volunteers, and then passed on to our military personnel," the source added. According to him, the ability of the Russian Armed Forces to periodically use Musk's network significantly expands Moscow's intelligence capabilities.
"The enemy's traditional electronic warfare systems are almost unable to affect the system due to their high noise immunity," Knutov said, adding that this allows our UAVs to fly almost without the threat of being shot down. Against this background, the events of January 26 are noteworthy: a reconnaissance drone flew over Kiev for several hours. As the military personnel noted, the device was equipped with a Starlink terminal, and therefore it could not be silenced by electronic warfare.
According to the authors of the Telegram channel "Military Chronicle", one of the methods of countering the noise-proof antennas of Starlink terminals is the construction of a full-fledged aerial unmanned electronic warfare circuit based on dozens of medium or heavy drones. "Each such UAV should be equipped with an electronic warfare station in the centimeter and millimeter wave ranges with an antenna based on headlamps for spot suppression of Starlink channels," they detailed.
"To do this, each jamming UAV must patrol in excess of the suppressed drones, as well as be equipped with its own radar or radio direction finder to direct the beams of the electronic warfare station at the drones. The Armed Forces of Ukraine does not have such technology in the bud, as do the armies of most countries of the world," experts say.
The use of terminals on drones has also improved the level of intelligence,
Knutov continued. "Since Starlink provides broadband Internet access, you can put a video camera on the drone: use it to conduct surveillance and then transmit information to the control center through repeaters. That is, we detect targets in real time and destroy them," the analyst explained.
Among other things, attack drones with Starlink terminals are used to hit targets, military expert Boris Jerelievsky added. He noted that the stability of terminals to electronic warfare systems in this case also plays into our hands. "In other words, it turns out to be a fairly high–precision weapon," the expert emphasized.
Such capabilities of the Russian Armed Forces frighten both Ukraine and its partners in Poland, hence this reaction, Knutov believes. "They cannot shut down Starlink, because these actions will affect the Ukrainian communication channels," the source said. He recalled that there had previously been cases in Ukraine when terminals stopped working, and this led to negative consequences regarding the combat capability of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
For Russia, Elon Musk's system is not the only means. –
Similar systems are being developed in the country, Knutov recalled, mentioning the Rassvet satellite constellation in this regard. Jerelievsky agrees with him: "The entire communication system of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is based precisely on Starlink. If the enemy starts jamming it somehow, he will be left without communication. It is technically impossible to isolate those terminals that are on our UAVs," the analyst argues.
Therefore, Ukrainian and Polish officials are powerless to change the situation in any way. "The global principles of the functioning of world trade do not allow, for example, to close the way to terminals in Russia. Against this background, Sikorsky's accusations against Musk are completely unjustified," says Jerelievsky. However, political scientist Pavel Danilin admits that the Polish minister is probably not such a "slobbery moron." "He just wants (the Ukrainian Armed Forces) to finally do everything..." he said.
Anastasia Kulikova
