Ukraine’s security services have opened a new front in the battle over Starlink, this time on every Ukrainian mobile phone. Mass text alerts are warning that Russians are trying to recruit Ukrainians to register satellite terminals in their own names, turning a civilian communications tool into a weapon of war. The messages are blunt, and the campaign behind them reveals a complex contest over technology, law and coercion that now reaches from the trenches to family apartments far from the front.
At stake is control over Starlink, the satellite internet system that has become vital to Ukrainian units and equally attractive to Russian forces seeking to restore connectivity after earlier shutdowns. By targeting ordinary Ukrainians with offers of money or threats against relatives, Russian agents are trying to slip past new technical restrictions and put fresh terminals back into combat use. The SBU’s text blast appears to be an attempt to slam that door shut before it quietly reopens.
How the Starlink registration trap works
Ukrainian officials say Russian agents are hunting for locals willing to put their names on Starlink contracts so the terminals can be used by occupying forces without triggering blocks tied to Russian data. According to Russian agents, the goal is to resume satellite internet on the frontlines, where connectivity directly affects artillery targeting, drone guidance and basic command and control. The SBU has described a pattern in which intermediaries approach Ukrainians, sometimes far from combat zones, and ask them to buy or register terminals that will later be handed off to Russian units.
Investigators say the enemy operates both in the open and in the shadows, placing online ads that look like ordinary job offers and using personal approaches that rely on emotional pressure or deception. In its public warning, The SSU said the enemy acts directly, including by placing announcements online with requests for registration, and also through manipulations that hide the real purpose of the terminals. For Russian forces, every successfully registered device represents a way around geographic and account-based blocks, which is why the recruitment effort has become so aggressive.
SBU text blasts and the new registration regime
The mass text messages that landed on Ukrainian phones this week are the most visible sign of how seriously Kyiv is treating the threat. Recipients saw stark language warning that SBU sends text are trying to recruit Ukrainians to register Starlink terminals, along with instructions not to cooperate and to report any approach. Journalist Christopher Miller shared one such alert, noting that Same texts went out to Ukrainian mobile numbers and directed people to a Telegram bot of the SBU to file tips.
The warnings are arriving just as a new Starlink registration system, negotiated between Ukrainian defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov and SpaceX head Elon Musk, starts to bite. According to one account, As the new regime rolled out, Ukrainian and SpaceX officials moved quickly to tighten control over where and how terminals can operate inside the country. The SBU’s texts are not just generic security advice; they are a targeted response to Russian efforts to exploit that very system by hiding behind Ukrainian identities.
Coercion, fake identities and the families of POWs
Behind the recruitment drive lies a darker tactic that Ukrainian officials say crosses into outright blackmail. Authorities report that Russia Coerces Families prisoners of war to register Starlink terminals for military use, effectively making desperate relatives complicit in supplying communications to the very forces holding their loved ones. Ukrainian officials say this pressure campaign ramped up after Ukraine disabled illegal Starlink connections that Russian units had been using near the front. The message to families is brutal: help us restore our network, or your relative may suffer.
Reports from the front also describe Russian operatives posing as Ukrainian military personnel who claim they bought Starlink at their own expense and now cannot activate it. In one detailed account, invaders pose as soldiers and ask civilians to help by registering the equipment or by taking money to front the purchase. Another report notes that The SBU has documented cases where such cooperation is later treated as high treason, with full criminal liability for those who agreed to take part.
Ukraine, SpaceX and the fight against “unauthorized” use
Russian interest in fresh Starlink registrations did not appear in a vacuum. Earlier this year, SpaceX began actively cutting off what the company called unauthorized Russian use of the network in occupied areas, after evidence that terminals were helping guide drones and coordinate attacks. In one detailed account, reporters Sophie Tanno and Daria Tarasova Markina described how Sophie Tanno and Daria Tarasova Markina explained that SpaceX had worked with Ukrainian authorities to shut down Russian-linked devices and that Elon Musk publicly insisted Starlink was not supposed to be used in offensive operations. Those clampdowns made it harder for Russian forces to rely on previously captured or smuggled terminals.
Ukrainian officials say the new Starlink registration system, agreed between Mykhailo Fedorov and Elon Musk, is central to that effort because it ties devices more tightly to verified users and locations. A separate report notes that Ukraine Warns Against and that the Security Service urges citizens to refuse any offers to register equipment that is not for their own use. That coordination between Kyiv and SpaceX is exactly what makes Russian recruitment of Ukrainians so attractive to Moscow, because it is now one of the few remaining ways to sneak new terminals into the conflict with a veneer of legitimacy.
Legal risks and how Ukrainians are being told to respond
The SBU is not couching its guidance in gentle language. Officials have stressed that helping Russians obtain or activate Starlink can be prosecuted as high treason, with severe penalties. One bulletin warned that SBU reminded of and that any cooperation with Russia’s military communications efforts entails criminal liability. Another statement emphasized that SBU is countering attempts to build its own Starlink network in occupied areas and will pursue those who assist.
At the same time, the security service is trying to give citizens clear, simple steps instead of just threats. In one social media post, Facebook posts relay a message that the SBU warns Russians attempting to recruit Ukrainians to register Starlink terminals and urges anyone contacted to immediately inform security services. Another advisory stresses that Security Service urges to treat any such offers as hostile activity, not as easy money or a harmless favor.
