Elon Musk responded to the plea made by Ukraine Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov. SpaceX's Starlink supplied the country internet connectivity to aid it in its ongoing turmoil with Russia.
This plea comes after Russia's relentless aggression against Ukraine, particularly against the country's government-owned internet infrastructures.
Despite supplying much-needed aid, Musk tweeted a very important warning. Supplying internet connectivity through satellites can be used against Ukraine.
Underlying Threats of Starlink Satellites
Using an internet connection provided by a low orbital satellite during an armed conflict poses a real security and safety threat.
Enemies could jam the satellites to track the users' location. An exposed location is a vulnerability that can be used against the citizens of Ukraine. Signals provided by satellites can be utilized to geolocate both targets and enemies.
Cybersecurity experts told CNN Business:
"If an adversary has a specialized plane aloft, it can detect [a satellite] signal and home in on it," Nicholas Weaver, a security researcher at the University of California at Berkeley, said via email. "It isn't necessarily easy, but the Russians have a lot of practice on tracking various signal emitters in Syria and responding. Starlink may work for the moment, but anyone setting a [Starlink] dish up in Ukraine needs to consider it as a potential giant target."
Experts have recommended that, for safety purposes, it is best to place the Starlink satellite dish in a location away from the general population and essential infrastructures in case Russia decides to bomb the operation.
Furthermore, SpaceX CEO tweeted, "Important warning: Starlink is the only non-Russian communications system still working in some parts of Ukraine, so the probability of being targeted is high. Please use with caution."
Important warning: Starlink is the only non-Russian communications system still working in some parts of Ukraine, so probability of being targeted is high. Please use with caution.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 3, 2022
As reported by Reuters, John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab project, turned to Twitter to express concern that the terminals would become targets of the Russian government.
John Scott-Railton tweeted, "Russia has decades of experience hitting people by targeting their satellite communications". In a series of 15 tweets outlining the dangers of targeting satellite communications.
2/ #Russia has decades of experience hitting people by targeting their satellite communications.
— John Scott-Railton (@jsrailton) February 27, 2022
In 1996, Chechen president Dzhokhar Dudayev was careful, but Russian aircraft reportedly found his satphone call & killed him with a missile strike.https://t.co/lGA2Cg3HiO pic.twitter.com/jdxo931LLq
As a result, the Russian military may triangulate and target satellite signals from the ground in Ukraine, according to Scott-Railton. He also noted that the Russian military has previously utilized the method to lethal effect in Chechnya and Syria.
SpaceX's Starlink Satellites in Ukraine
This threat comes after Mykhailo Fedorov, the vice prime minister of Ukraine, plead to Starlink's CEO Elon Musk to help the country in supplying internet connectivity.
According to CNN, Fedora made the plea publicly on Twitter:
"While you try to colonize Mars -- Russia try to occupy Ukraine! While your rockets successfully land from space -- Russian rockets attack Ukrainian civil people! We ask you to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations and to address sane Russians to stand."
The plea was addressed to Elon Musk.
The Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded with offers of assistance, confirming that the Starlink network had been enabled in Ukraine.
In addition, Musk announced this week that a truckload of Starlink user terminals will arrive. These terminals will help the people of Ukraine gain access to the internet despite Russia bombing their internet towers.
The exchange of tweets between Elon Musk and Fedorov took place when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered to be on high alert. This also means that the country's armed forces will prepare their weapons . . . including nuclear weapons.
Starlink Satellites
SpaceX has not disclosed how many Starlink terminals have been delivered to Ukraine. It is also unclear how the Ukrainian government intends to use or where to distribute the terminals.
As an internet service provider, Starlink makes use of satellites in low-Earth orbit to provide continuous coverage, allowing for substantially quicker upload and download rates. Starlink is a subsidiary of Starlink Communications.
As of January, over 145,000 users in 25 countries were using Starlink, which SpaceX has been working to rapidly deploy over the previous couple of years.
