Medvedev warns blocking Rassvet could trigger 'full-scale space warfare'
14:00, 04/10/2026, Sunday
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Dmitry Medvedev said blocking Russia's Rassvet satellite network would amount to its destruction and trigger "full-scale space warfare," warning that Starlink satellites could fall "like ornaments from a dried-up Christmas tree" after Kyiv requested US sanctions on the project.
Russian Security Council Deputy Dmitry Medvedev on Sunday warned that any attempt to block Moscow's new Rassvet satellite network would constitute its destruction. He said such obstruction would trigger "full-scale space warfare," threatening that Western satellites could face retaliation if the project is obstructed at Ukraine's request.
'Mutually courteous'
On Telegram, Medvedev stated that "space is a very crowded place; we need to be mutually courteous." The former Russian president added that American assets would be vulnerable, saying: "The Americans, I hope, realize this. After all, their low-orbit Starlink satellites would come tumbling down like ornaments from a dried-up Christmas tree,"
Kyiv's sanctions appeal
The remarks followed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's appeal to US President Donald Trump to impose sanctions on Russian and Chinese firms developing the rival satellite network. Zelenskyy told
The Financial Times
on Saturday that Beijing is assisting Moscow with the technology, which could become operational by "the end of the year, beginning next year.""We know that China works on satellites, works on the possibility of helping Russia with a similar Starlink," Zelenskyy said, warning that the capability could enhance the precision of Russian airstrikes. Moscow has intensified its aerial campaign against Ukraine as the conflict entered its fifth year.