The US aerospace company Maxar Technologies reportedly cut off Ukraine’s access to its satellite imagery, Ukrainian media outlet Militarnyi reported on 7 March, citing several users of the commercial service.
Users reportedly received official justification from Maxar administration citing “an administrative request” as the reason for the restriction.
The move appears to be a consequence of the US government’s ban on providing intelligence data to Ukraine earlier this week, following the halt of the military aid reportedly to push Ukrainian government to the negotiations.
The restrictions affect both government and private users in Ukraine. Ukrainian cyber community “Kiberboroshno” published a post on their Telegram channel about losing access to satellite intelligence.
In comments, they specified that access to Maxar Technologies’ main service, which they used in their work, had been revoked.
Maxar Technologies has been a primary provider of commercial satellite imagery for Ukrainian users tracking Russian troop movements and monitoring strike results on important facilities in both occupied territories and Russia itself.
The reported restriction follows the US decision to suspend intelligence sharing with Ukraine, which became known on 5 March. This intelligence was previously used for strikes on strategic targets in Russia and for targeting American precision weapons near the front line.
On 6 March, French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu said that France is ready to provide Ukraine with its intelligence data to replace American intelligence.
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