The “free” Internet brought to Ukraine by Starlink antennas, a potential target for Russian forces

Elon Musk warns that while very useful for accessing information and reporting on events in Ukrainian cities occupied by the Russian military, Starlink antennas are real targets on the buildings where they are installed, camouflaging them and hiding any associated equipment is absolutely necessary for the safety of those who use them. .

In addition to the indiscriminate bombing of residential buildings, hospitals, kindergartens and more recently, nuclear power plants and other critical infrastructure, the Russian military’s terror campaign against the Ukrainian population appears to be aimed at cutting off access to any source of information, such as television. , radio stations and, of course, the internet. Thus, the prospect of gaining immediate and uncensored access to the Internet by installing Starlink equipment donated by the American company SpaceX can make the difference between completely isolating communities already surrounded or completely occupied by Russian forces, and maintaining a core of resistance and coordination with other territories. from the territory of the country.

Given the level of preparedness of the Russian army, any TV antenna left on the roofs of houses or on the balconies of blocks of flats is expected to be a pretext for bombing or at least visiting those buildings by “peacekeeping” forces.

According to Elon Musk, “Starlink is the only non-Russian communications system still operating in parts of Ukraine, so it is very likely to be attacked.” The head of SpaceX advises those who have taken possession of the Starlink equipment, distributed in limited numbers, to take all the necessary measures to avoid their discovery by the Russian forces, choosing installation spaces as safe as possible from the inhabited areas and to take measures to ” light camouflage ”, which makes it difficult to detect without impeding the connection with satellites in Earth orbit.