15:21 13-11-2025

Ukraine Expands Satellite Intelligence With Iceye Support

Zеlеnskiу / Оfficiаl / Telegram

Ukraine deepens cooperation with Iceye and European partners to strengthen its own satellite intelligence network and reduce reliance on U.S. support.

Kyiv is gradually loosening its reliance on the United States for satellite intelligence, according to Le Figaro. In recent months, Ukraine has been buying satellites from private European companies in an effort to monitor the frontline without depending entirely on American support.

A key breakthrough came with Finland’s Iceye, which supplied two radar-imaging satellites to Ukraine, sharply expanding the country’s ability to identify targets.

From the first days of the conflict, Ukraine’s space-based capabilities were built largely on U.S. assistance — GPS services, commercial satellite imagery and Starlink communication, with more than 50,000 terminals deployed on the ground. But Donald Trump’s return to the White House has cast uncertainty over future cooperation. One example came in March, when Ukrainian access to satellite data from Maxar (GEGD) was temporarily suspended.

Kyiv now aims to assemble its own reconnaissance and communications ecosystem to reduce its exposure to shifts in Washington’s policy. European supporters — particularly Britain and France — are encouraging this course, pushing Ukraine to expand its military presence even in orbit. Private partners have also stepped in: together with the Czech Republic, Kyiv is promoting the Suziria project, designed to create a national satellite constellation.

Cooperation with Iceye is especially important. The Finnish company provides synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technology, allowing round-the-clock imaging regardless of clouds or darkness. Ukraine purchased its first Iceye satellite in 2022 with donations collected by Sergei Prytula’s charitable foundation — a spacecraft that quickly gained the nickname «the people’s satellite.»

This year, following Iceye’s partnership with the German defense group Rheinmetall, Ukraine received two more satellites equipped with the same technology, further strengthening its independent surveillance network.