Ukraine and SpaceX say they recently collaborated to stop strikes by Russian drones using Starlink and will soon block all unregistered use of Starlink terminals in an attempt to stop Russia’s military from using the satellite broadband network over Ukraine territory.
Ukrainians will soon be required to register their Starlink terminals to get on a whitelist. After that, “only verified and registered terminals will be allowed to operate in the country. All others will be disconnected,” the Ukraine Ministry of Defense said in a press release today.
Ukraine Minister of Defense Mykhailo Fedorov “emphasized that the only technical solution to counter this threat is to introduce a ‘whitelist’ and authorize all terminals,” according to the ministry. “This is a necessary step by the Government to save Ukrainian lives and protect critical energy infrastructure,” Fedorov said.
Fedorov has posted on SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s X social network a few times in the past few days about Russia’s use of Starlink and Ukraine’s attempt to counter it. On January 29, Fedorov said his agency contacted SpaceX hours after “reports that Russian drones equipped with Starlink connectivity were operating over Ukrainian cities.” Ukraine “proposed concrete ways to resolve the issue,” he said.
Fedorov said that SpaceX started working on a solution immediately after the outreach. Musk wrote yesterday, “Looks like the steps we took to stop the unauthorized use of Starlink by Russia have worked. Let us know if more needs to be done.”
Fedorov said yesterday that because of “the first steps taken in recent days, no Ukrainians have been killed by Russian drones using Starlink.” Fedorov said the ministry “will share instructions for Ukrainian users to register their Starlink terminals for verification” in the coming days, and that registration “will be simple, fast, and user-friendly.”
Ukraine’s whitelist plan will require residents to make “one visit to the nearest Administrative Services Center,” a process that Fedorov said will be “free, fast, and without excessive bureaucracy.” Businesses will be able to verify their Starlink terminals online, while the military and service members have separate systems for registration. Service members with personal Starlink terminals will “only need to add the terminal to the ‘whitelist’ to prevent disconnection.”
Russia equipped “strike and reconnaissance” drones with Starlink
SpaceX has provided Ukraine with Starlink access since Russia invaded in 2022. There are limits to this agreement, as SpaceX has taken steps to prevent Ukraine’s military from using Starlink with drones. SpaceX uses geofencing to limit Starlink access, and Musk said in February 2024 that “Starlink satellites will not close the link in Russia.”
Russia has obtained Starlink terminals through black market sales, evading US sanctions. A document on the US Army’s Operational Environment Data Integration Network website says that as of December 2025, “Russian units have begun equipping both strike and reconnaissance variants of the Molniya-2 drone with commercial Starlink satellite communication terminals. This modification enables control and data transmission beyond line-of-sight constraints, significantly increasing operational resilience against conventional electronic warfare countermeasures and facilitating precision targeting at extended ranges.”
Ukrainian forces previously “developed effective countermeasures against standard Molniya-2 drones,” using their own interceptor drones to jam frequencies used for control systems, the document said. But newer versions are harder to counter.
“However, the integration of Starlink terminals in newer variants largely neutralizes these conventional electronic warfare methods, creating a substantial tactical challenge for Ukrainian air defense systems,” the document said. “Since its introduction to the battlefield, the Molniya-2 has demonstrated high effectiveness, in part due to its simple design. Russian forces have reported numerous successful strikes against Ukrainian personnel, armored vehicles, military facilities, and logistics infrastructure across various sectors of the conflict.”
The new reconnaissance variant of the drone uses a “Raspberry Pi 5 microcomputer; Chinese Mini PC F8 running licensed Windows 11 (rebranded in Russia as ‘Raskat’); SIYI ZR10 camera featuring 10-fold optical zoom and three-axis stabilization; [and] Starlink satellite communication terminal for video relay and telemetry transmission,” the document says. Although Russia has been adding advanced equipment to the drones, the drones themselves have an “intentionally rudimentary design [that] emphasizes affordability and mass production over technological sophistication.”
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