Who helps Russia obtain satellite imagery of Ukraine: Expert explains

The Russian Federation is actively purchasing satellite images of Ukrainian territory from Chinese companies, despite having its own satellite constellation. Currently, the volume of Russian orders from these firms may reach $30 million.

This was reported on KYIV24 by military analyst Ivan Stupak.

According to him, this precedent emerged during the battle for Bakhmut, when the Wagner PMC sought alternative ways to obtain intelligence data.

«There was such a period, remember, when the assault on the city of Bakhmut by Prigozhin’s Wagnerites forces was taking place — they were then cut off from intelligence support from the Russian Ministry of Defense. What did they do? Right—they took the money, of which they had plenty, and went to the Chinese and bought satellite images of the territories that interested them,» Stupak explained.

The analyst emphasizes that for Chinese firms, this is purely a commercial matter.

«I’ll give you some figures to understand. The base price that generally applies for one square meter of territory is about $20… And overall, it’s now said that certain Chinese companies have orders from Russians amounting to $30 million for photographing Ukrainian territory. So once again—purely money. Just business,» the expert added.

Thus, the poor quality of Russia’s own satellite system and internal conflicts force the Kremlin to spend millions of dollars on commercial services in China to obtain up-to-date information on Ukrainian territory.