Former Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov is still negotiating with SpaceX owner Elon Musk regarding the use of Starlink satellite internet to strike military targets in Russia, including ballistic missile launchers.
Former Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov is still negotiating with SpaceX owner Elon Musk regarding the use of Starlink satellite internet to strike military targets in Russia, including ballistic missile launchers.
Fedorov spoke about this on the air of Serhiy Sternenko’s YouTube channel.
According to him, negotiations with the SpaceX team and Musk directly are ongoing, and the last communication took place a few days ago. The process remains complex due to the specifics and risks of the tasks, but the former official is working to achieve the necessary result.
Fedorov recalled that he had previously managed to reach critical agreements with the founder of SpaceX — in particular, in late January or early February, to completely disable Starlink terminals for Russian occupiers on the territory of Ukraine. At that time, the threat consisted of Russian attempts to integrate satellite communications into strike drones.
«This could have been a disaster for us, because the shaheeds with Starlink are an opportunity to control each device with our hands, fly over roads, change trajectories beyond our radars and acoustic sensors, knock out all our F-16s, Patriots and hit all military targets. It was a big risk. And so we found a way: I had a conversation with Musk and explained why it was important to do this,» Fedorov noted.
Earlier, Russian forces began illegally purchasing Starlink terminals through third countries for use on the front line and equipping drones. In response, the Ukrainian side, together with SpaceX, developed algorithms to block unauthorized devices in the combat zone.
In late July, The Atlantic reported that Ukraine was seeking to expand its use of Starlink satellite communications to guide long-range drones to mobile ballistic missiles directly on Russian territory. According to the publication’s sources, former Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov had prior agreements with Elon Musk.
