Medvedev: ‘Blocking’ Rassvet satellite network could trigger ‘full-scale space warfare'

The deputy head of Russia's Security Council Deputy on Sunday warned that "blocking" Russia's new Rassvet satellite network at Ukraine's request would amount to its destruction and lead to "full-scale space warfare."

On Telegram, Dmitry Medvedev said that "space is a very crowded place; we need to be mutually courteous."

"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," said the Russian former president.

The statement came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told The Financial Times on Saturday that he had asked US President Donald Trump to impose sanctions on Russian and Chinese firms involved in developing a rival to the Starlink satellite network.

Zelenskyy said China is helping Russia develop the technology and that Rassvet 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 boost the precision of Russian airstrikes as Moscow escalates its aerial campaign against Ukraine, now in its fifth year.