SBU sends text warning Russians are trying to recruit Ukrainians to register Starlink terminals
Holders of Ukrainian phone numbers received an SBU message on Feb. 11 warning that Russians are trying to recruit Ukrainians to register Starlink terminals for use by Russian troops and that doing so is a criminal offense in Ukraine.
The messages come a week after Ukraine's defense ministry agreed with Starlink's parent company, SpaceX, to introduce mandatory registration for the internet terminals in Ukraine, a move meant to prevent their use by Russian forces.
The Kyiv Independent requested details from the SBU but had not received a response by the time of publication.
On Feb. 10 Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said that Russia was coercing the families of Ukrainian prisoners of war to register Starlink terminals, Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
Providing high-speed internet connectivity without wires or local mobile networks, Starlink has become a prized technology on both sides of Russia's war against Ukraine.
The terminals are used both for everyday communications on front-line positions and command posts, as well as for longer-range unmanned aerial and ground vehicles in environments where other communications systems cannot function.
As the new registration system — negotiated quickly between Ukrainian defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov and SpaceX head Elon Musk — came into force, unregistered Starlink terminals quickly fell out of action on the battlefield, causing major headaches for the Russian military.
To work in Ukraine, a Starlink terminal must be registered, either directly through the Army+ app for soldiers, through the Diia government service app for businesses, or through Ukraine's administrative services center for civilian individuals.
Reeling at the loss of the technology, Russia has reportedly been looking for different ways to register its Starlinks inside Ukraine.
On Feb. 7, Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov, a communications expert and recently-appointed advisor to Fedorov, reported that Russia had begun actively searching for Ukrainians who could register the terminals, offering payments of up to Hr 10,000 ($232).
If a Russian Starlink terminal is found to be used in a strike against Ukraine, the Ukrainian citizen who helped register can be held criminally liable, the Coordination Headquarters warned.
