Key facts
- GUR said Russia launched 32 Rassvet satellites in 2026 in two batches, in March and July.
- GUR spokesman Andrii Yusov said coverage of Ukraine is intermittent, available only when satellites pass overhead.
- GUR said Rassvet may allow two-way data exchange with Russian drones, enabling in-flight route changes.
- President Volodymyr Zelenskiy imposed sanctions on 10 companies developing Rassvet, including Bureau 1440.
- Bureau 1440 has said it plans a constellation of more than 900 satellites by 2035.
- Ukraine's chargé d'affaires in Washington, Denys Sienik, urged the US to sanction Rassvet companies.
Russia is already using its new Rassvet satellite network for military communications over Ukraine, according to a written statement from the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine's Ministry of Defense (GUR) cited by Reuters on November 6, 2026. GUR spokesman Andrii Yusov said the constellation is not yet sufficient for uninterrupted coverage of Ukrainian territory, with communication available intermittently when satellites pass over relevant areas.
Russia has launched 32 Rassvet satellites so far in 2026 in two batches, in March and July, GUR said. The Russian government said last month that Russia had launched more than 30 satellites. That compares with more than 10,000 satellites in SpaceX's Starlink network, whose military version, Starshield, operates in Ukraine but not in Russia. GUR said Moscow plans further Rassvet launches by the end of 2026 to widen geographic coverage.
GUR said Rassvet may give Russia two-way data exchange with unmanned aircraft over Ukraine, letting surveillance drones transmit data in real time and pilots adjust attack drone routes in flight rather than rely on a pre-programmed path. Yusov said this could in the longer term increase the effectiveness of strike and reconnaissance UAVs and make interception by electronic warfare and electronic intelligence systems more difficult.
Mykola Zientsev, a Kyiv-based security expert, wrote in a recent report that Russia already has at least two high-quality satellite communications windows every day, each lasting more than an hour, which he said is enough to have operational consequences. Major General Vadym Skibitskyi, deputy head of GUR, told Ukrainian media in August that Russia was launching Rassvet faster than originally planned and that Ukraine was discussing ways to counter it.
Russian forces had used grey-market Starlink terminals in Ukraine until Kyiv successfully lobbied SpaceX to disable them earlier in 2026. Last month Ukrainian battlefield commanders saw speed limitations imposed on Starshield, hampering interception of Russian attack drones and forcing cancellation of some strike operations; the restrictions, which came amid tensions with President Donald Trump's administration over Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries, have been lifted with no explanation given.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy last week imposed sanctions on 10 companies involved in developing Rassvet, including Bureau 1440, the coordinator of the state-backed project. Bureau 1440 has said it plans a constellation of more than 900 satellites by 2035. GUR has published a list of 49 companies from Russia and Belarus it says are involved. Denys Sienik, Ukraine's chargé d'affaires in Washington, urged the US to impose its own sanctions on Rassvet companies and told Reuters Russia was developing the Starlink analogue using Chinese components.