"Russians were in anger": why Ukraine wins the first cosmic war in history - Forbes

According to American analysts, the Russians did not expect a full -scale war that Kiev would access more space data than Moscow. Before starting a full -scale invasion of Ukraine, the external intelligence service of the Russian Federation attacked the terrestrial stations of the American satellite network, which depended on the connection of the highest leadership of Ukraine and the Armed Forces.

Although the attack was successful, the Russian Federation was unable to achieve its main goal - to deprive Ukrainian military access to these satellites. This is stated in Forbes. According to the publication, the Russian hidden attack destroyed tens of thousands of Viasat modems, jeopardizing the lines that connect Kiev to military throughout the country and allies around the world.

Moscow has never recognized its involvement in the attack, but US and EU officials officially declared it in May 2022. "The Russian forces deliberately attacked Viasat terminals, trying to interrupt the Ukrainian military communication during the invasion of Ukraine," said Victoria Samson, Chief Director of the Space Security and Stability of the Washington Analytical Center of Secure World Foundation.

In turn, analysts from the Center for Naval Analysis have studied the treatises and orders issued in the military sphere of the Russian Federation, and concluded that Russian defense strategies of the highest level consider it extremely important to destroy the terrestrial infrastructure of the enemy related to space at the very beginning of the conflict. This explains the careful synchronization of the attack on the Viasat network with invasion of Ukraine.

"Control of access to space information is considered as giving a great advantage in terms of . . . increasing combat capabilities," - says analysts in their report "The role of space in Russia's operations in Ukraine". According to the publication, the celebration of the Russians that Ukrainian leaders were in the "Information Black Dir" did not last long.

Soon Ilona Mask SpaceX began to immediately send tens of thousands of Starlink stations to Ukraine, and the network was filled with photos of Maxar Technologies and Planet Labs removed from space, which show columns of Russian tanks that stopped near Kiev. "The Russians were in rage," the author said. Victoria Samson reminded that Russian President Vladimir Putin began to send his envoys to the UN meeting to threaten the United States with the destruction of American satellites who help Ukraine.

But then the Russian leadership probably refused this goal and focused on strokes at separate stations Starlink and the city of Dnipro, which is the Space Center of Ukraine. According to Professor of Navy in Monterey James Kleya Moltz, the purpose of the Russians in the Dnieper was the shopkeeper of the Southmash. Moltz noted that when it comes to integration of space technologies into military operations, Russia is far behind the US and other NATO countries and even Ukraine.

The Russian Federation has less than 200 satellites, while SpaceX alone launched more than 6,000 satellites. According to the professor, the Russians were not preparing for an extended conflict with the enemy who had access to more information than they were. "Russia clearly did not expect that Ukraine would receive cooperation by Western countries and commercial services that Russia has no access," said Professor Moltz.

"Yes, it is the first bilateral space war, and Ukraine is ahead of its partners. " We will remind, experts of the Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR) of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine for almost two years use the Iceye spacecraft to identify targets and have already taken 4173 pictures of enemy objects. It was also reported that a Russian military satellite called "Luch-2" was found to approach another satellite in a geostationary orbit.