Ukraine’s “people’s satellite” inflicts damage on Russian targets

Caliber.Az reprints an article from POLITICO detailing how a crowd-funded Ukrainian satellite, dubbed the “people’s satellite”, has significantly enhanced the country's military intelligence capabilities.

Ukrainian military intelligence has been leveraging a crowd-funded satellite to identify and target Russian troops, weapons, and logistics from space. This satellite, purchased from Finnish company ICEYE, has provided Ukrainian forces with the ability to monitor Russian troop positions, logistics, tanks, and ships with precision.

"The results have been phenomenal," said Ukrainian Military Intelligence in a report. Serhiy Prytula, a former Ukrainian TV presenter whose foundation facilitated the fundraising for the satellite, told POLITICO, "Thanks to the people's satellite, our military has managed to destroy thousands of military targets, including the Rostov-on-Don submarine and the Minsk large landing ship. It has paid for itself many times over."

It all started in the early days of the Russian invasion when Ukrainians were desperately trying to procure weapons to defend themselves. The Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation and Ukrainian blogger Ihor Lachenkov raised approximately $20 million through crowd-funding to buy three Bayraktar drones, which were highly sought after during the initial months of the war. However, Turkish manufacturer Baykar Defense chose to donate the drones to Ukraine instead.

With the unspent funds, the volunteers consulted with the military to determine the best use of the money. In August 2022, they decided to purchase a satellite and gain access to the database of Finnish satellite company ICEYE, which operated 21 satellites at the time.

“I don't recall any instance where civil society bought a satellite for a country's defense intelligence. Ukrainians did it. People realized their power to undertake such significant projects for their defense forces,” Prytula remarked.

Before 2022, Ukraine did not possess its own satellites. Access to ICEYE technology provided Kyiv with exclusive images regardless of weather conditions, including rain, snow, fog, smog, and dust, both day and night.

ICEYE's small satellites utilize Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) technology, which gathers detailed images by bouncing radio waves off the Earth's surface, allowing them to see through clouds, foliage, and even at night. This capability makes it difficult to conceal tanks or troops, aiding the military in better planning operations and more effectively targeting the enemy.

Leveraging the "people's satellite" and access to ICEYE's database, specialists of the Ukrainian Military Intelligence have captured over 4,700 images of Russian military targets. These include 370 airfields, 238 air defense and radio technical intelligence positions, 153 oil depots and fuel warehouses, 147 warehouses for missiles, aviation weapons, and ammunition, and 17 naval bases.

Ukrainian Military Intelligence reported that about 38 per cent of the data obtained from ICEYE was used to plan attacks on the enemy. “A significant advantage of the ICEYE satellite is its ability to clearly detect clusters of enemy mechanized units with equipment, even if they are well camouflaged in foliage. What do you think happens to them afterwards?” Ukrainian Military Intelligence quipped, alluding to operations deep within Russia and in the Black Sea.