Zelenskyy asked Trump to impose sanctions on Russian and Chinese companies over Starlink-like service
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has stated that he has repeatedly asked US President Donald Trump to impose sanctions on Russian and Chinese companies which, he claims, are involved in the development of the ‘Rassvet’ satellite network. This is intended to be a Russian alternative to Starlink.
According to Censor.NET, citing European Truth, Zelenskyy spoke about this in an interview with the Financial Times.
According to Zelenskyy, Russia has accelerated the development of its own satellite network with China’s support after the Russian military began using SpaceX’s Starlink in the war against Ukraine.
"We know that China is working on satellites and on the possibility of helping Russia to create a counterpart to Starlink," said the Ukrainian president.
Zelenskyy noted that the ‘Rassvet’ network could become operational by the end of 2026 or early 2027.
Ukraine had previously called on the US to impose sanctions against Russian companies and individuals linked to this project. In late September, officials in Kyiv stated that the launch of the Russian satellite network could pose additional military risks.
Zelenskyy has raised the issue of sanctions on several occasions
According to the President of Ukraine, he has on several occasions asked Trump to impose sanctions on organisations involved in the creation of ‘Rassvet’.
As Zelenskyy noted, this issue was last raised during his meeting with Trump in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
At the same time, the Financial Times report notes that the Kremlin, Beijing and SpaceX did not provide the newspaper with any comments regarding these statements.
