The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine (HUR MO) published information about the use of the SAR radar satellites that belong to the Polish-Finnish company ICEYE, also sharing example photographs of Russian facilities that had not been published before.

On 18 August 2022, ICEYE announced the signing of a UAH 600 million contract with the Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation to provide the Ukrainian government with the capability to acquire SAR satellite imagery. 

The funding came from fundraising by Ukrainian citizens. As part of the agreement, one of ICEYE’s satellites was put at the disposal of the Ukrainian government for use in the region.

Ukraine now has access to the entire ICEYE satellite fleet. 

In-house satellite reconnaissance and services provided by the European Union partners are particularly important in the face of the suspension of US military aid, which includes, among other things, intelligence sharing.

The Polish-Finnish radar imagery was used during the attack on a large landing ship, RFS Minsk, on the night of 12-13 September 2023 in Sevastopol Bay in occupied Crimea.

On Friday, 7 March 2025, the US government said that it had withheld Ukraine’s access to Maxar Technologies’ satellite imagery, which had been used in the defence war against Russia. Ukrainian sources say such images are now coming through “alternative directions”.

According to AP, the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency notified that the decision to block access was made because of the administration’s “directive regarding the support for Ukraine”. No further details were given to the public. 

Source: MILMAG, PAP

Photo: ICEYE

Tomasz Modrzejewski