Polish Foreign Minister urges Musk to ban russians from using starlinks to strike Ukraine

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has appealed to American billionaire and SpaceX founder Elon Musk to ban the aggressor state of russia from using Starlinks to strike Ukrainian cities.

He wrote about this on the social network Musk X.

"Hey, big man, Elon Musk, why don't you stop the russians from using Starlinks to target Ukrainian cities. Making money on war crimes may damage your brand," the message says.

Sikorski cites an analysis by the American Institute for the Study of War, which indicates that russian forces are increasingly using Starlink satellite systems to increase the range of BM-35 strike drones to strike at the rear of Ukraine.

The range of Starlink-equipped BM-35 drones is reportedly 500 kilometers, which means that most of Ukraine, all of Moldova, and parts of Poland, Romania, and Lithuania are within the reach of these drones if launched from russia or occupied Ukraine.

ISW is tracking reports of Shahed drones being equipped with Starlink starting in September 2024, and Molniya drones being equipped with Starlink systems starting in December 2025. Also, earlier, the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that the enemy uses Starlink and SIM cards on Shahed type strike drones.

Updated. In March 2024, the United States initiated an investigation into Elon Musk's SpaceX company, checking whether the company had introduced adequate guarantees to prevent russia from using the Starlink satellite Internet service during the war against Ukraine.

Already in May, it was reported that Pentagon representatives, in cooperation with SpaceX, prevented the unauthorized use of Starlink Internet terminals by the russian occupiers in the war with Ukraine.

However, later, analysts from the Molfar OSINT agency, together with experts from the Cyberwar Research Institute, found out the details of the use of Starlink by the russians. In particular, it was claimed that terminals for Russian troops are purchased in the United States on eBay, and the technology works in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

Bloomberg reported that SpaceX is helping to deter russian military use of the terminals, which have become communication tools for military operations in Ukraine, and against civilians. At the same time, a Pentagon spokesman stressed that the russian occupation army is adapting to the situation and will likely look for new ways to gain access to one of the important communication tools.

At the same time, it should be noted that Reuters reported that Musk ordered the Starlink satellite communication to be turned off during a counteroffensive by Ukraine in 2022 due to fears that the aggressor country of russia would use nuclear weapons.