Musk did not allow Ukraine to use Starlink to destroy Russian ballistic missile launchers
Kyiv • UNN
Elon Musk refused to let Ukraine use Starlink to strike Russian ballistic missile launchers, citing the risk of escalation and calling for negotiations. At the same time, Ukraine continues a systematic campaign of long-range strikes against strategic facilities of the Russian Federation using its own capabilities.
American billionaire Elon Musk did not allow Ukraine to use Starlink to guide strikes against Russian ballistic missile launchers. This decision complicates the "hunt" for mobile targets in the Russian rear, but does not stop Ukraine’s long-range strike campaign, UNN writes.
According to The Atlantic, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked U.S. President Donald Trump to approach Elon Musk so that he would allow the use of Starlink to guide strikes against Russian ballistic missile launchers.
For Ukraine, such an opportunity could have become a fundamentally new tool for combating ballistic missiles specifically. In that case, Ukraine would not wait for a Russian missile to be launched in order to intercept it in the air, but would locate and strike the launchers themselves on the territory of the russian federation.
Denys Shtilerman, co-founder and chief designer of the Ukrainian defense company Fire Point, previously explained that integrating Starlink into long-range strike systems would make it possible to operate much more effectively specifically against mobile targets in the Russian rear.
"Instead of shooting down arrows, we will strike the archers," Shtilerman explained the logic behind such an approach.
However, Musk believes that using Starlink for strikes deep inside Russia could lead to further escalation of the war. According to The Atlantic, during the discussions the billionaire also repeatedly reiterated the need to reach a deal.
"Elon keeps saying that it is time to reach a deal," The Atlantic quotes its source as saying.
However, Musk’s refusal does not mean that Ukraine will stop using "long-range sanctions." Their logic is to deprive Russia of the military and economic resources needed to continue the war. And thus put the Kremlin in a position where negotiations become the only possible scenario.
In just the past 40 days, more than 100 strategic facilities have been hit on the territory of Russia and in temporarily occupied territories. The targets included military-industrial complex enterprises, military airfields, oil refineries, air defense systems, logistics hubs, ammunition depots, warships and tankers belonging to the "shadow fleet."
One of the most tangible areas of Ukraine’s deep-strike campaign has been Russia’s oil refining sector. As a result of systematic Ukrainian strikes, more than 42% of the russian federation’s designed oil-refining capacity has been put out of operation, while the sector’s total losses were estimated at $13.5 billion.
Thus, the refusal to allow the use of Starlink leaves Ukraine’s issue of more effectively "hunting" mobile Russian launchers unresolved, but does not deprive it of the ability to continue the systematic destruction of strategic facilities in the Russian rear. Oil refineries, military-industrial complex enterprises, military and fuel logistics remain within the reach of Ukrainian long-range weapons.