As Ukraine accuses Russia of terrorism with deadly strike on train, is Starlink helping Moscow target civilians?
Kyiv - A Russian drone hit a Ukrainian passenger train traveling in Ukraine's eastern Kharkiv region Tuesday, killing at least five people, according to the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office.
"In any country, a drone strike on a civilian train would be regarded in the same way - purely as an act of terrorism," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a social media post.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said in a social media post that, according to preliminary information, the attack involved three Iranian-made Shahed attack drones, which hit the engine and one passenger car, causing a fire.
"There were 291 passengers on board. People were evacuated as quickly as possible," he said, echoing Zelenskyy in calling the strike "a direct act of Russian terror against civilians. No military target."
Russia's government routinely denies targeting civilian infrastructure, but there was no specific reaction from the Kremlin or Russian military to the allegations that it had deliberately struck a train carrying civilians.
Russia using Starlink to deadly effect?
Strikes on Ukrainian civilians and critical infrastructure have intensified in recent months, and experts say Russia has adapted its offensive capabilities to evade Ukraine's air defenses.
Last year, the Ukraine Air War Monitor journal noted an 18% decline in Ukraine's drone interception rate.
Oleksii Balesta, Deputy Minister for Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine, told CBS News on Wednesday that Russia has been using larger drones in higher quantities, which is increasing the lethality of its strikes.
But according to a recent report from the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for the Study of War, another reason for Russia's deadlier strikes is its use of Starlink satellite systems to more accurately hit targets.
This week, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski raised the issue with Elon Musk, whose company SpaceX owns and operates the Starlink satellite network. In a post on Musk's platform X, Sikorski asked the American businessman to "stop the Russians from using Starlinks to target Ukrainian cities."
On X, Musk called Sikorski a "drooling imbecile" and said that Starlink's terms of service "do not allow for offensive military use, as it is a civilian commercial system." Musk also highlighted Ukraine's use of the Starlink system for military communications.
Two Ukrainian defense analysts have said the train may have been hit by Shaheds - a favorite weapon of Russia amid its ongoing full-scale invasion - equipped with the SpaceX technology.
"Russia has started using Starlink on other drones, and now is using it on Shaheds as well," analyst Olena Kryzhanivska told CBS News on Wednesday. "The attack yesterday was not surprising at all. It was expected."
Serhiy Beskrestnov, a Ukrainian military analyst and expert on drone warfare, said in a social media post Wednesday that the moving train was hit by, "Shaheds with online control."
"It was not the locomotive, but the center of the train," Beskrestnov noted in his post, accusing the Russian drone's pilot of attacking a passenger car, "intentionally and consciously," and specifically questioning whether Starlink might have been used.
SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment by CBS News on the claims that its Starlink technology may have been used in the drone strike on the train, and by Russian forces more widely to target civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.
Kryzhanivska said trains make easy targets for precision-guided Russian weapons.
"The territory of Ukraine is not targeted evenly with air defense systems and mobile fire units," Kryzhanivska said. "There is no protocol in place for what to do when there is a Shahed drone approaching a train. What can the crew do? Should they stop the train? Or continue moving?"
At least 11 people were killed and dozens wounded in strikes across Ukraine overnight on Tuesday, which involved 165 Russian-launched drones, including the ones that hit the train in the Kharkiv region, according to Ukraine's Air Force.