{"id":644049,"date":"2026-08-18T18:14:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T18:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/644049\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T18:14:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T18:14:14","slug":"satellite-image-russian-space-center-linked-to-starlink-copy-damaged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/644049\/","title":{"rendered":"Satellite Image: Russian Space Center Linked to Starlink Copy Damaged"},"content":{"rendered":"

New satellite imagery shows damage at a Russian space center linked to Moscow’s version of SpaceX’s Starlink<\/a> following a Ukrainian attack over the weekend.<\/p>\n

The imagery, captured on Tuesday by US spatial intelligence firm Vantor and obtained by Business Insider, shows a hole in the roof of a building at the Progress Rocket Space Center in Samara, a city in western Russia, as well as damage to the exterior.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/a> said on Saturday that the military struck the facility, located more than 550 miles across the border, with FP-5 Flamingo<\/a> cruise missiles, calling the attack “a good achievement.”<\/p>\n

Video footage shared on social media showed a massive fire at the facility, later followed by a large plume of black smoke. The extent of the damage inside the building is unclear.<\/p>\n

The Progress Rocket Space Center is a joint-stock company under the Russian state corporation Roscosmos<\/a>, which is responsible for space-related activity, research, and development.<\/p>\n

The facility is a key part of Russia’s space industry, as it produces the “Soyuz<\/a>” family of rockets that are used to launch spacecraft.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

The aftermath of a Ukrainian strike on Russia’s Progress Rocket and Space Center.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Satellite image \u00a92026 Vantor.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ukrainian forces struck the Progress Rocket Space Center in Russia over the weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Satellite image \u00a92026 Vantor.<\/p>\n

Ukraine’s military said the “Soyuz-2.1b,” a three-stage rocket, is used to deploy Rassvet<\/a>, a satellite internet constellation in low Earth orbit (several hundred miles high) developed by the Russian aerospace company Bureau 1440.<\/p>\n

Rassvet is a broadband communication system considered to be Moscow’s alternative to SpaceX<\/a>‘s Starlink service, which is crucial on the battlefield for enabling drone operations.<\/p>\n

Russian soldiers were using Starlink in Ukraine until earlier this year, when Kyiv pressed SpaceX to disable their terminals<\/a>. Moscow has sought to replicate the service’s effects; it reportedly has more than a dozen Rassvet satellites so far and aims to build a constellation of hundreds in the coming years.<\/p>\n

Starlink has been a significant asset for Ukraine<\/a>, particularly in the several months since Russia was cut off from using the American service. Ukrainian commanders have described Starlink as a crucial element supporting battlefield operations<\/a>, particularly for communication with drones and ground robots amid heavy electronic warfare conditions.<\/p>\n

Starlink works in both Ukraine and in occupied Russian territory, but not in Russia. Kyiv has asked that these restrictions be lifted, arguing that doing so will improve its deep-strike campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Starlink has been critical for Ukraine’s drone operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

REUTERS\/Inna Varenytsia<\/p>\n

The Ukrainian attack on the Progress Rocket Space Center reflects an effort to degrade Russia’s efforts to field its Starlink alternative<\/a>, and it underscores how space is increasingly becoming a focus of the war.<\/p>\n

Fire Point<\/a>, the Ukrainian defense company that makes the Flamingo cruise missile, said that the center is Russia’s only production facility for the Soyuz-2 rockets and that there is no backup to fill the gap.<\/p>\n

“This is not a quick repair job,” Fire Point said, adding that it could be months before production is restored.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military said on Saturday that the center also makes “Earth observation spacecraft, which the enemy uses for reconnaissance purposes.”<\/p>\n

“The extent of the damage is being clarified,” the military said at the time.<\/p>\n

Beyond the space center, Ukrainian deep strikes in recent weeks have targeted military bases, energy facilities, and e-commerce logistics hubs<\/a> throughout Russia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New satellite imagery shows damage at a Russian space center linked to Moscow’s version of SpaceX’s Starlink following…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[270],"tags":[132596,7725,272533,18,24247,19,17,1538,6844,272531,550,272530,133,13960,451,2731,4425,551,272532,3257],"class_list":["post-644049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-battlefield","tag-damage","tag-drone-operation","tag-eire","tag-facility","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-military","tag-moscow","tag-progress-rocket-space-center","tag-russia","tag-russian-space-center","tag-science","tag-service","tag-space","tag-spacex","tag-starlink","tag-ukraine","tag-ukrainian-attack","tag-year"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117117875813949034","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}