US House Democrats Investigate Alleged Use of Starlink by Russian Forces in Occupied Ukrainian Territories

Musk: "No Terminal Sales to Russian Side"

On the 7th (local time), The Washington Post (WP) reported that Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives have launched an investigation into allegations that Russian forces are using SpaceX's satellite internet network Starlink in occupied territories of Ukraine.

Jamie Raskin and Robert Garcia, members of the U.S. House Oversight Committee, sent a letter to SpaceX the previous day requesting an explanation regarding these allegations. SpaceX is a space company led by Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, and operates the satellite internet network Starlink.

Earlier, CEO Musk provided Starlink satellite terminals free of charge to Ukraine in 2022, and subsequently, the U.S. government signed a contract with SpaceX to continue supporting Ukraine's use of Starlink. The Ukrainian military was able to conduct the war using the supported Starlink network.

However, as concerns have recently arisen that Russian forces might also be using Starlink similarly to Ukraine, voices within the U.S. political sphere are growing louder, demanding that SpaceX take measures to prevent this.

The Ukrainian government claimed last month that Russian forces are using Starlink's satellite internet in the war. They allege that Starlink terminals are being illegally brought in and used via third countries. As evidence, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense released an audio file containing discussions about Russian soldiers installing Starlink terminals in eastern Ukraine.

WP reported that SpaceX has not issued an official response to this. CEO Musk denied the claims in a post on X, stating, "To our knowledge, no Starlink has been sold directly or indirectly to Russia."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.