Back
Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Russia is already using its own satellite system "Rassvet" for military communications over Ukraine. It is intended to help Russian drones strike targets with greater precision and avoid Ukrainian electronic warfare systems.
The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense told Reuters this.
How does the Russian Starlink work over Ukraine?
Since the beginning of 2026, Russia has launched 32 "Rassvet" satellites into orbit. They were launched in two batches – in March and July.
Last month the Russian government said the number of launched satellites exceeded 30.
This is only a small fraction of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s Starlink network, which has more than 10 thousand satellites.
According to intelligence, by the end of 2026 Russia plans to launch more satellites to expand the coverage of the "Rassvet" system and provide stable satellite communications.
Main Intelligence Directorate representative Andriy Yusov confirmed that Russia is using "Rassvet" over the territory of Ukraine for military purposes.
At the same time, the current number of satellites is insufficient for continuous coverage of Ukrainian territory. Connectivity is available only periodically – when satellites pass over the relevant areas.
The Main Intelligence Directorate assesses that the "Rassvet" system can provide two-way data exchange between Russian drones and ground control points over Ukraine. This will allow reconnaissance drones to transmit information in real time and operators to change the flight path of strike drones while they are already in the air.
In this way Russia will be less dependent on preprogrammed routes. In particular, drones will be able to respond to shifting target locations or evade Ukrainian air defenses.
According to Andriy Yusov, in the future this could increase the effectiveness of Russian strike and reconnaissance drones, and also make their detection and interception by electronic warfare and signals intelligence means more difficult.
Kyiv security expert Mykola Zientsev noted that there are already signs of "Rassvet" affecting the accuracy of strikes by Russian jet-powered drones. In his assessment, Russia already has at least two quality time windows of satellite connectivity each day. Each of them lasts more than an hour, which is enough to affect military operations.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Росія вже використовує аналог Starlink для військових операцій в Україні, – ГУР". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Channel 24.
