Undermines the advantage of Ukraine: the Armed Forces use thousands of Starlink terminals - Budanov

This was reported by the head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Kirill Budanov in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, published on Thursday, February 15. According to Budanov, the Russian soldiers use the Starlink system for a long time and received these terminals through private Russian companies, which, in turn, purchased them through intermediaries.

The Intelligence Head noted that these intermediaries deliver equipment to Russia through neighboring countries, including the former Soviet republics. According to the publication, this information indicates that Russia begins to buy the Starlink terminals made in massively SpaceX terminals, which can undermine Ukraine's main advantage on the battlefield.

The publication notes that the Starlink communication system has a higher level of protection compared to mobile networks or radio signals, which makes it better for military purposes. To date, the Russian military did not have such a protected communication system. At the same time, there are about 42,000 Starlink terminals in Ukraine, which are actively involved in military, hospitals, business and humanitarian organizations.

On February 8, social networks appeared that the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation supplied Starlink terminals through the UAE. Military Sergey Beskrestnov with the call sign "Flash" said that in a closed group the Russians discussed the experience of using Starlink on the front in the southern part of Ukraine.

The media found out that the Russian army buys Starlink satellite terminals from private sellers and uses them in the occupied territories of Ukraine, connecting to networks in Poland through NATO proxy. Ilon Musk, the owner of SpaceX, stated that Starlink satellite communication systems did not sell directly or indirectly Ukrainian intelligence intercepted the conversation of two Russian invaders, one of which complains about a bad online connection on the forefront.