Commercial satellites used by the United States to assist Ukraine in its war against Russia are “legitimate” targets for attacks, a Russian diplomat said Wednesday.
Private assets like Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet constellation, as well as Maxar and Planet Labs earth observation satellites, have proven critical in keeping Ukrainians online and piercing the fog of war.
Konstantin Vorontsov, the deputy chief of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s arms control and nonproliferation department, complained to the UN that the use of such satellites in conflicts marked an “extremely dangerous trend.”