UKRAINE, Jan.14 —  Russia started to equip Molniya drones with Starlink terminals to increase their flight range up to 230 kilometers (143 miles), Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported on Jan. 13. 

Starlink is a satellite internet service owned and operated by SpaceX, the private company founded by Elon Musk. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion Ukraine has received more than 50,000 Starlink terminals, which have become a significant communication system for its military. Poland is the largest contributor, having provided nearly 30,000 Starlink terminals to Kyiv.

Starlink is not officially operating in Russia, but the Russian military has been purchasing its terminals in third countries for use along the Russia–Ukraine border, reported Nordsint, OSINT platform. 

Recently, SpaceX requested Ukrainian customers to provide passport details to keep Starlink working. Militarnyi, a Ukrainian media outlet, suggests that this is aimed at preventing the use of these terminals in Russian drones. 

The Molniya-2 drone is resistant to electronic warfare and, when equipped with a Starlink terminal, offers Russia a favorable price-to-performance ratio, Kostiantyn Mashovets, Ukrainian war analyst, said. 

Rubicon, Russia’s elite drone unit, began to use Molniya-2 drones in Dec. 2025, including the Kupiansk axis in the Kharkiv oblast. 

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