Recently CNN.com reported the following:
Russia is using Starlink to make its killer drones fly
farther
CNN- By Ivana Kottasová, Daria Tarasova-Markina
Updated Jan 29, 2026
Russia has been mounting Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite
systems on its attack drones to strike deeper into Ukraine, extending their
potential flight range to well inside NATO territory, analysts and Ukrainian
officials have said.
Ukraine has collected evidence of “hundreds” of attacks by
Russian drones equipped with Starlink terminals, Serhii Beskrestnov, a military
tech expert and adviser to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, said on Thursday.
“(Attacks) not on military targets, but on peaceful rear and
frontline cities. Including residential buildings. In fact, this is terrorism
using modern peaceful communication technologies,” he said.
Adding Starlink allows Moscow to bypass Ukraine’s electronic
defenses that disable drones by jamming GPS and radio signals.
Russia has previously got around these signal blockers by
using drones controlled by fiber optic cables. But while these cannot be
disabled electronically, their range is limited by the length of the cable.
Starlink-equipped drones have a longer range than radio and
cable-guided drones and cannot be jammed. The superfast connection also makes
it possible to control them in real-time from inside Russia, allowing them to
be much more precise.
CNN has asked Starlink for comment, but received no answer.
Under US sanctions, Starlink cannot be sold or used in Russia.
While other Russian drones and missiles can cover longer
distances, they are a lot more expensive, larger and easier to detect and take
down. A simpler drone equipped with a Starlink Mini, which costs between $250
and $500, can be much cheaper and as effective as the more advanced models that
cost tens of thousands of dollars.
Beskrestnov, better known in the drone tech circles under
his moniker Flash, shared a photograph of a BM-35 drone strike in Dnipro,
saying that the Starlink-equipped drone can fly a distance of up to 500
kilometers (310 miles).
He said it was also likely that the deadly strike on a
civilian train in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday was conducted with a Shahed drone
equipped with a mesh radio modem or possibly a Starlink, given it was able to
get through electronic defenses and was guided by its pilot to strike the
middle of a moving train.
Earlier this month, Flash told the Ukrainian Public
Broadcaster Suspilne that a swarm of Starlink-equipped Molniya drones was
recently used to hit Ukrainian energy facilities in the Chernihiv region. The
Molniya drones are very simple and cheap machines made with plywood, capable of
flying dozens of miles.
He said that one in every three of the drones managed to hit
its target because of the Starlink technology. “It is impossible to suppress
(them) with electronic warfare. It can only be physically shot down if an
anti-aircraft drone sees it and shoots it down,” he said.
He said on Thursday that more Starlink-equipped Molniya
drones were used overnight near Pavlohrad some 50 kilometers (31 miles) from
the front lines.
Bypassing jammers
Ukraine’s recently appointed Defense Minister Mykhailo
Fedorov, who was previously in charge of drone development and procurement as
the minister for science, tech and digital transformation, said that Ukraine
needs to respond “very quickly” to the Starlink development.
“The enemy is constantly improving its drones and attack
tactics to achieve its goals. Every day, a new risk emerges,” he said, adding
that Russia launched over 6,000 drones in the past month alone. That is
slightly more than in December and November, but more than twice the number
recorded at the same time last year.
Fedorov said on Thursday that the ministry has contacted
SpaceX, Musk’s company that owns Starlink, with proposals on how to stop Russia
from using the technology.
He said he was grateful to “SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell
and Elon Musk personally for their quick response and for starting to work on
resolving the situation.
Ukraine has become heavily reliant on Starlink since the
beginning the war. The system is used by the military to communicate and
operate drones, by the government as well as many civilians, businesses and
public institutions including hospitals and schools.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US-based
conflict monitor, said that based on the reported 500-kilometer range “most of
Ukraine, all of Moldova, and parts of Poland, Romania, and Lithuania” are in
range of the Starlink-equipped BM-35 drones if launched from Russia or occupied
Ukraine.
Ukraine’s sanctions commissioner Vladyslav Vlasiuk said
earlier this week that the growing use of Starlink by Russia shows that the
sanctions pressure Ukraine’s allies put on Russia is “insufficient.”
CNN has previously reported on Russian troops bypassing the
sanctions by buying Starlink systems in third countries and then using them
along the frontlines. At that time, Starlink said that it would deactivate any
terminal found to be used by a sanctioned or unauthorized party.
Musk himself did respond to criticism of his technology
being used by Russia earlier this week when he was asked by Poland’s Deputy
Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski on X why he doesn’t “stop
the Russians from using Starlinks to target Ukrainian cities.”
Musk responded by calling Sikorski a “drooling imbecile” and
saying Starlink was “the backbone of Ukraine military communications.” He did
not address the question of Russia using the system.
Translation
俄羅斯利用星鏈系統提升其攻擊無人機的飛行距離
分析家和烏克蘭官員表示，俄羅斯一直在攻擊無人機上安裝馬斯克的星鏈衛星系統，以更深入打擊烏克蘭境內目標，及將其潛在飛行範圍擴展至北約領土內部。
軍事技術專家兼烏克蘭國防部顧問Serhii
Beskrestnov週四表示，烏克蘭已收集到「數百個」俄羅斯無人機使用星鏈終端發動攻擊的證據。
他說:「（攻擊）並非針對軍事目標，而是針對和平的後方和前線城市，包括居民樓。事實上，這是利用現代和平通訊技術實施恐怖主義」。
加裝星鏈系統使莫斯科能夠繞過烏克蘭的電子防禦系統，該系統透過幹擾GPS和無線電訊號來使無人機失效。
俄羅斯先前曾利用光纖控制的無人機繞過這些訊號屏蔽裝置。雖然這些無人機不受電子干擾而失效，但其飛行距離是受制於光纖長度。
配備星鏈系統的無人機比無線電和光纖控制的無人機飛行距離更遠，且不受幹擾。超高速連接也使得在俄羅斯境內可進行實時控制，亦大大提高其飛行精確度。
CNN已就此事向星鏈公司尋求置評，但未收到回應。在美國制裁之下，星鏈系統是不得在俄羅斯境內銷售或使用。
雖然其他俄羅斯無人機和飛彈可飛行更遠距離，但它們價格更高、體積更大，也更容易被偵測和擊落。配備星鏈迷你版（Starlink
Mini）的簡易無人機售價在250至500美元之間，價格遠低於售價數萬美元的先進型號，且性能同樣出色。
Beskrestnov在無人機技術圈內以綽號「閃電」（Flash）更為人所知, 他分享了一張BM-35無人機在Dnipro發動襲擊的照片，並稱這款配備星鏈（Starlink）系統的無人機飛行距離可達500公里（310英里）。
他還表示，週二發生在烏克蘭東部一列民用列車上的致命襲擊很可能也是由一架配備網狀無線電數據機或或可能是星鏈系統的“沙赫德”（Shahed）無人機實施的，因為該無人機能夠突破電子防禦系統，並在飛行員的引導下擊中了行駛中的列車中部。
本月初，「閃電」告訴烏克蘭公共廣播公司Suspilne，說最近有一群配備星鏈系統的Molniya無人機襲擊了切爾尼戈夫地區的烏克蘭能源設施。 Molniya無人機是一種非常簡單且廉價的機器，由膠合板製成，能夠飛行數十英里。
他表示，由於星鏈技術的應用，每三架無人機中就有一架成功擊中了目標。 他說:「用電子戰手段壓制（它們）是不可能的。只有當防空無人機能夠看到它並向它射擊，才能夠實在地將其擊落」。
他週四表示，在距離前線約50公里（31英里）的Pavlohrad附近，夜間又有更多配備星鏈系統的Molniya無人機被投入使用。
繞過幹擾器
烏克蘭新任國防部長Mykhailo
Fedorov（此前曾擔任科技和數位轉型部長，負責無人機研發和採購）表示，烏克蘭需要「迅速」應對星鏈系統的發展。
他說:「敵人不斷改進其無人機和攻擊戰術以實現其目標。每天都會出現新的風險」，並補充說，僅上個月俄羅斯就發射了6000多架無人機。這比11月和12月略多，但比去年同期記錄的數量多出兩倍多。
Fedorov週四表示，烏克蘭國防部已與馬斯克旗下的SpaceX公司（該公司擁有星鏈計劃）聯繫，提出了阻止俄羅斯使用該技術的方案。
他表示，他非常感謝SpaceX總裁Gwynne
Shotwell和馬斯克本人迅速做出反應，並著手解決問題。
自戰爭爆發以來，烏克蘭對星鏈的依賴程度日益加深。軍方、政府以及眾多民眾、企業和公共機構包括醫院和學校、 都使用該系統進行通訊和操控無人機。
總部位於美國的衝突監測機構－戰爭研究所（ISW）表示，根據星鏈500公里的有效範圍，如果配備星鏈的BM-35無人機從俄羅斯或被佔領的烏克蘭境內發射，那麼「烏克蘭大部分地區、Moldova全境以及部分波蘭、羅馬尼亞和立陶宛的地區」都在其有效範圍內。
烏克蘭制裁專員Vladyslav
Vlasiuk本週稍早表示，俄羅斯對星鏈的使用日益增加表明，烏克蘭盟友對俄羅斯施加的制裁壓力「不足」。
CNN先前曾報道，俄羅斯軍隊透過在第三國購買星鏈系統並將其部署到前線來規避制裁。當時，星鏈公司表示，將會令任何被發現由受制裁或未經授權方使用的終端裝置失效。
本週早些時候，馬斯克本人確實回應了俄羅斯使用其技術的批評。當時，波蘭副總理兼外交部長Radosław
Sikorski在 X 平台問他，為什麼他不「阻止俄羅斯人使用星鏈攻擊烏克蘭城市」。
馬斯克回應稱Sikorski是“流著口水的白痴”，並表示星鍊是“烏克蘭軍事通信的支柱”。但他並未回應俄羅斯使用該系統的問題。
So, Russia has been mounting Elon Musk’s
Starlink satellite systems on its attack drones to strike deeper into Ukraine. CNN has
previously reported on Russian troops bypassing the sanctions by buying
Starlink systems in third countries and then using them along the frontlines.
At that time, Starlink said that it would deactivate any terminal found to be
used by a sanctioned or unauthorized party. Apparently, Starlink is important in conducting drone
attacks.
