Ukraine wants Washington to widen its sanctions so they reach the companies that supply parts for Rassvet, Russia’s answer to Starlink.
Denys Sienik, Ukraine’s charge d’affaires in Washington, told the Associated Press on September 30 that component makers for the Rassvet network rank near the top of a list Kyiv plans to hand the Trump administration and Congress. Washington already sanctions the company building Rassvet, but not its parts suppliers.
Bureau 1440, a Russian manufacturer, is building Rassvet as a domestic substitute for the foreign broadband Moscow has long depended on. Sixteen spacecraft went up in March and another batch in July, and the program’s goals run from 292 satellites by 2027 to 924 by 2035.
By August, the build-out had gathered pace, according to Ukrainian military intelligence. Sienik warned that a completed Rassvet would hand Moscow live targeting information, a danger he said sharpens as winter closes in.
Kyiv is leaning on the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, the law President Donald Trump signed on September 18. Under it, the administration has until October 18 to name the Russian entities it will penalize.
Ukraine also wants the U.S. to tighten its grip on the shadow tanker fleet Moscow uses to move oil around export limits.
The push builds on a quieter campaign this year, when Kyiv and SpaceX worked together to switch off Starlink terminals that Russian troops had acquired illicitly.
