War in Ukraine
Starlink – how Putin’s soldiers paralyze Musk’s satellite system
Parcel from Elon – Russian fighter posing with the Starlink system
© Telegram
Starlink terminals have been appearing among the Russians since February. They paralyze Ukrainian data transfer and Kiev’s troops become blind and deaf. A solution is complicated, also because Kiev is not allowed to provoke Elon Musk.
Now Kyiv is sounding the alarm. Because it looks like Ukraine is losing its lead in communications technology because the Russians have found a way to exploit the system. Or at least make it unusable for Kiev. That’s not news. Also the star reported back in February that the system was being used by the Russian side (Russians have found a way to disrupt the Starlink system in Avdiivka). At that time, videos and photos of the devices in use were shown. The Russians proudly demonstrated how they unpacked entire pallets.
Starlink is a mass product
Western sanctions proved ineffective. Although Starlink is not available in Russia, Starlink is an everyman’s product like a television. It guarantees internet access anywhere in the world, and it is correspondingly popular in large countries where there is not a connection everywhere. In Germany the system currently costs 50 euros, but there is an unlimited data flat rate that delivers around 50 to 200 Mbit/s downstream. In terms of price, Starlink is already on par with a DSL connection. It’s no secret that Musk wants to compete on price with other providers in order to win customers who currently use DSL. In other words: Starlink is a mass product and is finding its way to the Russian armed forces.
Russians paralyze the network
How exactly the Russians use the system is unclear. Kiev believes that Russia wants to use it to conduct its own communications. There are also fears that the Russians could hack the Ukrainian channels. What is certain is that the Russians are overloading the system regionally with huge data transfers and thus disrupting Ukrainian communication. A soldier told CNN that the problems began in the last three weeks. “We noticed poor connection quality. It keeps dropping out and needs to be restarted to work properly. But then the speed slows down and the connection drops out again.”
Kiev is working to solve the problem. Discreet, because it cannot be in Kiev’s interest to snub Elon Musk or put him under public pressure. He had already indicated in other cases that he might also stop supporting Ukraine. Especially since the old problem of financing the satellites could arise again in 2024, namely if the Pentagon does not receive any new funding. Musk recently announced that he believes Kiev has lost the war.
Who owns which terminal?
Analyst Oleg Kutkov describes the problem this way: Starlink could hinder the use of Russian terminals, but the company does not know which terminals in the frontline area are Ukrainian or Russian. It should still work up to 15 or 20 kilometers behind the front. Both sides use systems that were purchased from crowdfunders in third countries. “The problem is identifying the real owner of the account. It could be that there are two terminals at one location, both (bought) by Poland, and one works for the Ukrainian side and one works for the Russian side. And SpaceX just doesn’t know who to block,” he said. Kutkov leaves out an obvious assumption. Purchase and payment for the Russian terminals could also be processed through Ukrainian accounts.
According to their own information, the Ukrainians use 42,000 Starlink terminals. One way out would be a “white list” of “terminals loyal to Kiev”, only they would be activated in the territory of Ukraine and others would be blocked. But to do this, Kiev would first have to create a list of serial numbers. And that won’t be easy. Most terminals do not officially belong to the armed forces or government institutions. The units differentiate between government equipment and their own. Privately procured terminals, vehicles and night vision devices are guarded; the headquarters cannot dispose of them. If the troops are relocated, they usually take their own goods with them, such as the power supply.
War endangers business
Anyone can currently buy a terminal. All you need is a functioning debit option and you can start surfing. If sales were to be heavily monitored because every customer was suspected of being a Putin aide, the Ukraine war would endanger the company’s actual business model. At the same time, China is working hard on its own system. Beijing wants to prevent a private company from the USA from occupying all places in low-Earth orbit. But there is currently no such system from China.