Russia is building a satellite network that could soon put all of Europe within its reach. The “Rassvet” satellite system is an extraordinary threat, first to Ukraine and then to the rest of Europe, Oleksandr Danyliuk, the head of the private European aerospace and defense technology company Destinus, said at the Warsaw Security Forum, according to Ukrinform.

Rassvet is Russia’s answer to Starlink, a low-orbit satellite network built by Bureau 1440 to give Moscow’s forces communications that no one else can switch off. European states must invest more quickly in cheap, effective, mass-produced systems to counter it.

“They will be able to navigate to any point in Europe without problems. This needs to be stopped,” said Danyluik, a former Ukrainian finance minister, said.

Cheap systems, made at scale

Danyliuk’s prescription is already being used on Ukraine’s front. Europe should invest in inexpensive, effective systems that can be mass-produced, he argues, the same approach Ukraine uses, and that Russia also turns against it.

“This gap needs to be filled as quickly as possible,” he said.

He urged allies not to overlook threats that might look secondary today, pointing to Rassvet as exactly that kind of slow-building danger.

Appearing strong is not enough to deter Russia, Danyliuk argued, because Moscow can gauge how ready European states actually are.

Ukraine races to catch up

Both sides are now scrambling to own the satellite link rather than rent it. Ukraine is building a satellite system of its own, similar to Starlink but beyond any single company’s control, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on 4 October.

He argued Kyiv should be free to turn Starlink on Russian military targets, warning that China and other states will share comparable satellite technology with Moscow within months.

By Ukrainian estimates, Russia still needs five to eight years to complete Rassvet, which so far reaches Ukraine only in brief passes. That window is the time Danyliuk says Europe must use.

Elon Musk pledged to make Starlink affordable in India as he renewed his attack on billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s (pictured) telecoms dominance, days before Jio Platforms launches a record-breaking IPO.

In a series of posts on social media platform X, the SpaceX chief argued that competition from Starlink would benefit Indian consumers by expanding connectivity options. “The reality is that competition would greatly benefit the average citizen in India by giving them more choices, as it always does,” he explained, adding, “Ambani’s profits will be lower, but he is not going out of business”.

Musk also dismissed claims that Starlink would struggle to compete with Jio’s low-cost data plans while also posing a threat to the incumbent operator. “This is absurd hypocrisy and hyperbole,” he said.

His comments come as Jio Platforms targets a valuation of around $106 billion, according to Reuters, in a planned IPO that could become India’s largest-ever listing. The business includes telecoms operation Reliance Jio, which reported 524.4 million subscribers at the end of March, including 268.5 million 5G customers.

“Prime Minister Ambani“
Musk has escalated his criticism of India’s regulatory process in recent days, accusing authorities and “certain oligarchs” of delaying Starlink’s entry into the country to maintain a “monopolistic chokehold on the Indian people”.

In a separate post on Friday (9 October), he sarcastically addressed the Jio Platforms-owner as “Prime Minister Ambani” and asked whether he would “consider allowing Starlink to compete”.

He argued satellite connectivity could bring internet access to underserved communities, improve educational opportunities and enable small businesses to reach international markets.

“Please accept my humble apologies for not realizing that you are the real boss of India,” he wrote, adding “Starlink would change their lives for the better”.

India’s Ministry of Communications has rejected allegations of discriminatory treatment, stating that Starlink and incumbents Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio were at broadly the same stage of the regulatory process. All three have secured initial approvals but remain subject to outstanding security clearances before they can obtain spectrum access.

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SpaceX will not cut Ukraine off from Starlink satellite communications, Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov, presidential adviser on defense technology, says. The reason is that the company could lose a large share of its revenue.

Ukraine’s troops and drones lean heavily on Starlink, a network Kyiv neither owns nor controls, and Elon Musk has used that control against it before. The latest shutdown fears spread after Elon Musk supported US President Donald Trump's criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“Not a year goes by without it coming up again: ‘They’ll cut off our Starlink.’ The enemy’s Telegram channels fuel these rumors. We have good and stable partner relations with SpaceX,” Flash writes.

Musk is first of all a businessman, and Ukraine brings SpaceX significant profit, so he is sure no one will switch Starlink off in Ukraine, Flash said. Unexpected moves are possible, he added, but of a different kind, such as turning Starlink on for Russia inside its own territory.

The rumors come amid real US pressure

The fears did not appear in a vacuum. After Trump allowed Russian diesel back to US markets, talk spread of "sanctions" on Ukraine if it keeps hitting the Russian refineries that fund Moscow, with the Financial Times reporting, citing European officials, that Trump’s administration has threatened to halt the mechanism for buying US weapons for Ukraine, known as PURL.

Axios has also reported, citing a Ukrainian and an American official, that Washington has threatened to stop sharing intelligence with Ukraine if it continues striking Russian refineries.

Ukraine is building a backup

The scare feeds a longer effort to reduce dependence. Ukraine is working on a satellite system of its own, something similar to Starlink but beyond Musk’s control, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on 4 October.

The timing is the reason, he said: some states will share the technology with Russia late this year or early next, and the Chinese are among them. Moscow is already fielding its own Starlink-style constellation, Rassvet, though for now it reaches Ukraine only in brief passes.

Elon Musk-controlled SpaceX struck a deal to buy a nationwide low-band spectrum portfolio from Grain Management, ratcheting up its challenge to compete with US carriers for mobile customers.

The transaction for all of Grain Management’s nationwide portfolio of up to 14MHz of paired spectrum in the 800MHz band is subject to regulatory approval by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Financial terms are not available.

“This is the last critical piece of the spectrum puzzle needed for SpaceX to provide complete phone coverage in America,” Musk said on X above a post which questioned the company’s direct-to-device (D2D) strategy.

SpaceX stated Starlink Mobile’s global 2GHz mid-band spectrum will deliver high-capacity coverage in the US, while the newly acquired low-band frequencies will improve signal reach through obstacles including walls and extend service to devices indoors. The company added most existing mobile devices already support the underused band.

SpaceX plans to pair its satellites with ground-based femtocells to provide 5G mobile coverage, a plan many executives in the industry consider far-fetched.

The company stated the low-band spectrum would address a key remaining technical gap and help pave the way for Starlink Mobile to become a major US mobile carrier.

SpaceX stated once it garners approval it “will deploy a flexible architecture combining our satellite-to-mobile constellation in space with an advanced terrestrial deployment that can seamlessly connect devices everywhere”.

The move follows through on its plan to roll out a D2D service to compete against T-Mobile US, Verizon and AT&T.

On 6 October, SpaceX announced a regulatory win after it secured FCC approval to launch 15,000 next-gen satellites for D2D.

In August, T-Mobile US completed the sale of its nationwide 800MHz spectrum portfolio to Grain Management in exchange for $2.9 billion in cash and all of the latter’s 600MHz spectrum licences more than a year after agreeing a deal in principle.

Grain Management previously outlined a plant to work with energy and infrastructure specialist Black & Veatch to market the spectrum to utilities, critical infrastructure operators and rural and regional carriers.

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Indian authorities pushed back against Elon Musk’s claims that unnamed oligarchs were blocking Starlink from launching in the country, stating all three prospective operators remain broadly at the same stage of the regulatory process.

In a post on X, Musk accused “certain oligarchs” of trying to maintain a “monopolistic chokehold on the Indian people”, adding “you can guess who they are…” without naming the parties involved. “This is a crime against the people of India!” he wrote.

In a statement, India’s Ministry of Communications rejected the allegation, explaining its satellite communications framework is “fair and non-discriminatory”. It said assessments are currently underway for all licensed operators in India, with each required to meet security conditions before it can seek spectrum.

“At present, all the three entities are at broadly the same regulatory stage,” the ministry said, calling claims of discriminatory treatment “baseless and misconceived”.

The country’s telecoms sector is dominated by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio and Sunil Mittal’s Bharti Airtel. Both operators, alongside Musk’s Starlink, have secured initial approvals for satellite services but are awaiting spectrum assignment and final clearances.

Starlink’s approval process has stretched over four years, with security requirements and spectrum access among the key issues under scrutiny. Musk has previously clashed with Ambani over India’s satellite spectrum allocation, although both Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel later struck agreements with the tech mogul to distribute Starlink services in the country.

The US satellite venture’s regulatory wait has also been marred by security concerns. Local media reports stated authorities recovered illegal Starlink equipment in two separate operations in late 2024, including a drug seizure in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and an army search in the northeastern state of Manipur.

This week, Musk also disputed any suggestion the equipment was connected to an active Starlink service in India, posting on X that its satellite beams were “turned off over India” and “never on in the first place”.

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Aerospace and defence groups are reportedly pushing back against a SpaceX-backed effort to overhaul wireless spectrum coordination for rocket launches.

Bloomberg reported the proposed changes would replace the third-party frequency-coordination system overseeing how government agencies and commercial entities share key telemetry bands.

The FCC sought public comment on modernising launch spectrum coordination following an August 2026 Presidential Memorandum and a petition filed by the Commercial Space Federation (CSF).

According to filings highlighted by outlet Vertical Aviation International, CSF asked the FCC to replace the existing flight-test frequency coordination process with direct coordination and an automated, near-real-time database across shared telemetry bands.

A coalition representing aerospace and defence organisations, commercial aircraft manufacturers including Boeing and Lockheed Martin, and flight-test operators submitted formal comments urging the FCC to proceed cautiously.

In a joint submission, the Aerospace & Defense Industry Spectrum Coalition warned the proposed coordination changes could increase the risk of harmful electromagnetic interference.

The coalition stated these shared frequencies are vital for real-time safety telemetry during prototype aircraft evaluations, electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) certification flights, and defence readiness testing.

It also argued the FCC’s expedited comment schedule did not allow sufficient time for comprehensive technical studies to verify non-interference.

The clash leaves the FCC balancing faster rocket launch schedules against the need to protect aerospace and defence users of the same spectrum from harmful interference.

FCC bird approval
SpaceX notched a regulatory win after it secured Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval to launch 15,000 next-gen satellites for its direct-to-device (D2D) mobile service, creating a path to compete directly with AT&T, T-Mobile US and Verizon.

SpaceX filed its application with the FCC in September 2025 ahead of rebranding its D2D satellite offering as Starlink Mobile earlier this year.

Elon Musk-controlled SpaceX is targeting a download speed of 150Mb/s for its D2D service compared to about 4Mb/s on the downlink for the Starlink provisioned offering by T-Mobile.

Instead of relying on a terrestrial network with cell towers, SpaceX plans to pair its satellites with ground-based femtocells to provide 5G mobile coverage, a plan many executives in the industry consider far-fetched.

“With this action, SpaceX’s planned deployments will reshape spectrum-based connectivity by improving competition, allowing more consumers more choices in more places to further the Commission’s goal to connect everyone, everywhere to modern communications services,” the agency stated on 6 October

The FCC also issued SpaceX a waiver to offer its service through satellites without entering into a leasing agreement with a terrestrial mobile operator.

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The U.S. airline chose Amazon Leo over Starlink and will begin installing the service on 500 aircraft in 2028