This week, during a U.N. General Assembly meeting, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Konstantin Vorontsov threatened to attack Western commercial satellites, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk's Starlink.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, SpaceX, Elon Musk's space exploration company, has donated over 20,000 Starlink satellites to Kyiv at a cost that is anticipated to be more than $100 million by the end of the year.
The satellites have proven essential for Ukraine's troops to communicate with one another on the ground and on the front lines, but they have also irritated Russia by helping Kyiv win battles.
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However, Vorontsov stated in a statement on Wednesday, "We would want to expressly underline an exceedingly hazardous tendency that goes beyond the beneficial use of outer space technology and has been obvious during the ongoing developments in Ukraine," without specifically mentioning Starlink.
He went on to say that using satellites "constitute[s] indirect involvement" in the conflict: "namely, the use by the United States and its allies of civilian, including commercial, infrastructure elements in outer space for military reasons." Infrastructure that is close to becoming civilized might become a valid target for revenge.
As Ukrainian forces continue to advance on the battlefield, frustration has allegedly grown in Moscow and within Russia's own soldiers at its failure to retain command and control.
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The use of commercial satellites by Ukraine in the conflict, according to Vorontsov, violates the Outer Space Treaty and might spark a "full-fledged weapons race in outer space."
The spokesman's remarks came after last week's rumors that SpaceX may stop paying for Ukraine's satellites if the Department of Defense refused to pick up the tab.
Assuring Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov that SpaceX "would not off Starlink even if [the Department of Defense] refused to provide funding," Musk clarified the situation on Monday in a tweet. This scenario appears likely given that Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said last week that commercial decisions were up to individual companies.
He told reporters, "Of course, what an individual corporation may or may not do in any given corner of the world is incumbent upon that company to determine and do.