--- title: Russia Isn't Happy Ukraine is Using Elon Musk's Satellites description: The Kremlin rattles a sword against the Ukrainian army using SpaceX's Starlink constellation during the war. canonical: https://time.com/6226133/russia-ukraine-spacex-satellites-elon-musk/ author: Jeffrey Kluger article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2022-10-28T20:38:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T14:57:41.502Z article:section: Science og:title: Ukraine Has Been Using Elon Musk's Satellites And Russia Is Not Happy About It og:description: The Kremlin rattles a sword against the Ukrainian army using SpaceX's Starlink constellation during the war. og:url: https://time.com/6226133/russia-ukraine-spacex-satellites-elon-musk/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt46a58ce29fffe72f/698a36db16d8849081c3b302/ElonMusk.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: SpaceX And T-Mobile Hold Joint Event In Texas og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ukraine Has Been Using Elon Musk's Satellites And Russia Is Not Happy About It twitter:description: The Kremlin rattles a sword against the Ukrainian army using SpaceX's Starlink constellation during the war. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt46a58ce29fffe72f/698a36db16d8849081c3b302/ElonMusk.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ukraine Has Been Using Elon Musk's Satellites And Russia Is Not Happy About It  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Oct 28, 2022 8:38 PM UTC  BOCA CHICA BEACH, TX - AUGUST 25: SpaceX founder Elon Musk walks on stage during a T-Mobile and SpaceX joint event on August 25, 2022 in Boca Chica Beach, Texas. The two companies announced plans to work together to provide T-Mobile cellular service using Starlink satellites. BOCA CHICA BEACH, TX - AUGUST 25: SpaceX founder Elon Musk walks on stage during a T-Mobile and SpaceX joint event on August 25, 2022 in Boca Chica Beach, Texas. The two companies announced plans to work together to provide T-Mobile cellular service using Starlink satellites.Getty Images; 2022 Getty Images  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Oct 28, 2022 8:38 PM UTC Few people were thinking about a war in Ukraine when SpaceX began launching its constellation of Starlink satellites into space in 2019\. The Starlink fleet, which now numbers more than 2,300, is designed to provide broadband connection to underserved parts of the world. Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine last February, the Ukrainian army has been making use of the satellites for battlefield communications. As [Ars Technica](https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/10/russia-threatens-a-retaliatory-strike-against-us-commercial-satellites/), [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/world/russias-anti-satellite-threat-tests-laws-war-space-2022-10-28/), and [others](https://fortune.com/2022/10/28/russia-putin-elon-musk-starlink-satellites-ukraine-war-target/) report, this has left the Russians none-too-pleased. In a statement on Oct. 26, Konstantin Vorontsov, deputy director of Russia’s foreign ministry issued a statement, making a barely-veiled threat to shoot the satellites down if their military use continues. “Quasi-civilian infrastructure may become a legitimate target for retaliation,” Vorontsov said, condemning what he called “an extremely dangerous trend that goes beyond the harmless use of outer space technologies.” There is a certain disingenuousness in Vorontsov’s remarks, since the U.S. Department of Defense has long made use of commercial satellites to carry military communications, which Russia certainly knows. But direct involvement in a Russian ground war is a different matter—at least in the eyes of the Kremlin. The bad news: Russia certainly has the ability to shoot down a satellite, as it demonstrated as recently as last November, when it launched a missile from the ground at one of its own satellites, blasting it into what NASA estimated to be 1,500 pieces. The better news: such a single-strike attack would have little impact on as distributed a network as Starlink, and even Russia doesn’t pretend it is going to launch thousands of missiles to bring the whole constellation down. _This story originally appeared in TIME Space, our weekly newsletter covering all things space._ [_You can sign up here._](https://time.com/newsletters/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6226133/russia-ukraine-spacex-satellites-elon-musk/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6226133/russia-ukraine-spacex-satellites-elon-musk/"},"headline":"Ukraine Has Been Using Elon Musk's Satellites And Russia Is Not Happy About It","datePublished":"2022-10-28T20:38:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T14:57:41.502Z","description":"The Kremlin rattles a sword against the Ukrainian army using SpaceX's Starlink constellation during the war.","url":"https://time.com/6226133/russia-ukraine-spacex-satellites-elon-musk/","keywords":["Space","healthscienceclimate"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt46a58ce29fffe72f/698a36db16d8849081c3b302/ElonMusk.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jeffrey Kluger","jobTitle":"Editor at Large","url":"https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt46a58ce29fffe72f/698a36db16d8849081c3b302/ElonMusk.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"SpaceX And T-Mobile Hold Joint Event In Texas","caption":"SpaceX And T-Mobile Hold Joint Event In Texas","creditText":"Getty Images; 2022 Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6226133/russia-ukraine-spacex-satellites-elon-musk/","name":"Ukraine Has Been Using Elon Musk's Satellites And Russia Is Not Happy About It"}}]}] ```