This week, Ukraine will hand the Trump administration and Congress a list of Russian companies, vessels and individuals it wants sanctioned under a new US law. Topping that list are the makers of components for Russia’s homegrown alternative to Starlink, Denys Sienik, Ukraine’s chargé d’affaires in Washington, told ABC News.
The main company building out the network is already under US sanctions, Sienik said, but the suppliers making its components are not. The rollout is still moving ahead: in July, Russia carried out its second batch launch of satellites for the project. Moscow hopes to finish the constellation by the end of the year.
In the diplomat’s view, a completed constellation would let Moscow strike Ukraine at will using real-time data. That could prove devastating in the near term, especially this winter. Kyiv is fighting the threat with more than sanctions. In late August, it asked the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to block Russia’s Rassvet satellites from operating over Ukrainian territory.
Sienik added that Ukraine would like access to Starlink inside Russia so it can hit targets there. Ukraine already depends on the service at home: on September 23, a Starlink ground station in Poland that serves the country caught fire. Kyiv is also pushing for tougher action against vessels in Russia’s shadow fleet, which Moscow uses to get around limits on oil sales. Another request concerns American businesses in Ukraine. Kyiv wants the US administration and American companies to condemn Russian strikes on their facilities.
