Elon Musk denies claims that Starlink is being used by Russian forces

midian182

midian182

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What just happened? The once-rosy relationship between Starlink and Ukraine has become even more tense after the country's military intelligence accused Russian forces in occupied territories of using the company's terminals. Starlink's CEO and founder, Elon Musk, has denied the claim.

The Ukrainian Defense Intelligence Agency (GUR) says it has proof that Russia's 83rd Assault Brigade was using SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service in Klishchiivka and Andriivka, two towns in the partially occupied Donetsk region.

This proof consists of a 12-second audio clip that the agency says is an intercepted exchange of two Russian soldiers discussing setting up the Starlink terminals. "Starlink works, there is internet," one says.

"Cases of the Russian occupiers' use of the given devices have been registered. It is beginning to take on a systemic nature," Andriy Yusov, GUR spokesperson, told The Guardian.

Both Starlink and Musk have addressed the reports. Musk wrote in an X post that allegations SpaceX is selling Starlink terminals to Russia were categorically false. "To the best of our knowledge, no Starlinks have been sold directly or indirectly to Russia," he said.

Starlink's X post went into more detail. It noted that SpaceX does not do business of any kind with the Russian government or its military and that the service is not active in Russia, meaning it will not work in the country. It does not operate in Dubai, either, and it has not authorized any third-party intermediaries, resellers or distributors of any kind to sell Starlink in the country. "If SpaceX obtains knowledge that a Starlink terminal is being used by a sanctioned or unauthorized party, we investigate the claim and take actions to deactivate the terminal if confirmed."

Neither message flat-out denies that the Russian military has somehow obtained Starlink terminals and is using them in Ukraine.

It's been theorized that Russian troops could be spoofing the Starlink terminals' locations to circumvent their geofencing and make them appear in allowed locations. Alternatively, the terminals might be used in locations that SpaceX has cleared in order to help the Ukrainians.

SpaceX has supplied thousands of terminals to Ukraine and kept the service going since the war began, something the country was initially very grateful for and that angered Russia. But Musk warned that the company's funding couldn't continue indefinitely – though he later backtracked and said it would.

The relationship was further strained a year ago when SpaceX limited Ukraine's ability to use the Starlink satellite service for offensive military purposes. The move followed reports that Ukraine had been using Starlink to control drones. There was also a claim in a book that Musk disabled Starlink during a Ukraine attack on Russian ships over fears of nuclear reprisals.

In October 2022, Musk managed to anger the whole of Ukraine with his proposed Russian peace plan, though he did once offer to fight Vladimir Putin in "single combat" for the future of the nation.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/101853-elon-musk-denies-claims-starlink-terminals-used-russian.html

 
He can't possible know. Presumption is they are bought in Dubai activated and then sent to the front line.
It should be possible to stop it if it true.
Let pentagon register every station Used by Ukrainian force and ban everything in that area that is not on the list.
Yeah, Musk can't possibly know who uses them or not.
Ukraine is a corrupt country, and unfortunately it is not impossible that some very corrupt people who work with supplies actually sold some of these stations to resellers.
There were some very shady stories when the war started regarding weapons and ammo which were supposed to be ready but were not found till much later when the most critical stage passed.
Ukraine's army was slowly falling apart like the army of every Russian satellite for at least 30 years. It is greatly aided by Russia as a way to control neighboring nations. And it is a very good thing that help being sent to Ukraine is accounted controlled. That literally helps them to stay alive.
 
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toooooot said:
He can't possible know. Presumption is they are bought in Dubai activated and then sent to the front line.
It should be possible to stop it if it true.
Let pentagon register every station Used by Ukrainian force and ban everything in that area that is not on the list.
Yeah, Musk can't possibly know who uses them or not.
Ukraine is a corrupt country, and unfortunately it is not impossible that some very corrupt people who work with supplies actually sold some of these stations to resellers.
There were some very shady stories when the war started regarding weapons and ammo which were supposed to be ready but were not found till much later when the most critical stage passed.
Ukraine's army was slowly falling apart like the army of every Russian satellite for at least 30 years. It is greatly aided by Russia as a way to control neighboring nations. And it is a very good thing that help being sent to Ukraine is accounted controlled. That literally helps them to stay alive.
Click to expand...
Well, he CAN know that Starlink is not sold to or shipped to Dubai, so the claim that Dubai radios are being use din russia is total BS.
 
Wouldn't it be possible that some of these terminals are simply Starlink stations that have been captured by Russian forces? I mean imagine the Russians capturing terminal #123ABC, Ukrainian forces failing to report that terminal #123ABC is no longer in their inventory, so Starlink keeps providing service to #123ABC since the Ukrainians have not removed it from their service list - seems plausible enough. Or possibly corrupt Ukrainian quartermasters sold some terminals to the Russians directly, or to a third party that later sold to the Russians, and said quartermaster of course kept it listed on paper as still belonging to the Ukrainian military? Also sadly plausible. If the Ukrainian government wants to be able to use Starlink themselves, but not have nearby Russians using it, they will have to make sure they provide accurate lists of which Starlink terminals are under their control.
 
toooooot said:
He can't possible know. Presumption is they are bought in Dubai activated and then sent to the front line.
It should be possible to stop it if it true.
Let pentagon register every station Used by Ukrainian force and ban everything in that area that is not on the list.
Yeah, Musk can't possibly know who uses them or not.
Ukraine is a corrupt country, and unfortunately it is not impossible that some very corrupt people who work with supplies actually sold some of these stations to resellers.
There were some very shady stories when the war started regarding weapons and ammo which were supposed to be ready but were not found till much later when the most critical stage passed.
Ukraine's army was slowly falling apart like the army of every Russian satellite for at least 30 years. It is greatly aided by Russia as a way to control neighboring nations. And it is a very good thing that help being sent to Ukraine is accounted controlled. That literally helps them to stay alive.
Click to expand...
Except that Starlink service doesn't work on the frontline because Starlink is a consumer grade device and therefore disabled in the conflict zones of Ukraine. Last year when Starlink service was "disabled" it was actually never enabled because that was a battle zone:
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1699917639043404146

Furthermore, the Ukrainian government appears to have tried spoofing GPS locations or something to get around geofencing, and found out the hard way that there was really no coverage in Crimea for instance:
Kyrylo Budanov said:
Ukrainian general Kyrylo Budanov declared being "not sure that Elon Musk operated some mythical buttons and stopped the movement of some devices. This is my personal opinion. The fact that the Starlink systems did not work for a certain time near the Crimea, I can absolutely confirm, because we also used a certain technique. We immediately realized that there is simply no coverage there"
Click to expand...

Instead, SpaceX has a completely different technology using different hardware for military use:
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/05/spa...ilitary-variation-of-starlink-satellites.html

Also it's ironic that Ukraine previously accused SpaceX of not enabling access in these conflict zones, and now are accusing SpaceX of doing the opposite. Which one is it?
 
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Why should I care if either one of them is using Starlink? They are both ultra corrupt and neither side is the "good guys." Zelensky and Putin can both go to hell.

I'll tell you what I do care about. I care that our politicians (from both parties) are sending money we do not have, financed by more debt, to perpetuate a war that does not benefit our country. We have plenty of our own problems to worry about.
 
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CBTex said:
Why should I care if either one of them is using Starlink? They are both ultra corrupt and neither side is the "good guys." Zelensky and Putin can both go to hell.

I'll tell you what I do care about. I care that our politicians (from both parties) are sending money we do not have, financed by more debt, to perpetuate a war that does not benefit our country. We have plenty of our own problems to worry about.
Click to expand...
exactly; like 2 Mussolinis
 
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