Ukraine has asked Elon Musk’s SpaceX Aerospace to take steps to prevent Russia from using its Starlink terminals to communicate in areas occupied by Moscow’s forces, a Ukrainian government minister said on Monday, Reuters reported.

The Starlink terminals were sent to help Ukraine after the Russian invasion in 2022 and were vital to Kyiv’s battlefield communications. Starlink says it does not do any business with the Russian government or military.

The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, told the Wall Street Journal this month that Russian forces are using thousands of Starlink terminals after acquiring them from private Russian firms that bought them from middlemen.

Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov told public television “Suspilne” that the Ukrainian authorities demanded from SpaceX to take measures even before it became known about the use of terminals by Russia.

“We found the algorithm and made an offer to SpaceX, and we are in contact with them to make sure that such cases do not happen again,” Fedorov told television. “SpaceX did something similar to the Israeli government.”

Fedorov stated that Ukraine needs terminals for work in all spheres, “because specific technologies related to drones are used. There are other ways our Starlinks work and others don’t. We are working on this together with SpaceX.”