Crowd-Funded Satellite Guides Ukraine's Strategic Destruction of Russia's War Machine

In August 2022 funds raised by the Serhiy Prytula Charitable Foundation, originally to buy Bayraktar drones for use in the war against Russia, was used by Ukraine to purchase a high-technology satellite from the Finnish company ICEYE, which have helped to guide much of Kyiv’s targeting against the Kremlin war machine.

A report in the War Zone (TWZ) military issues news site reported on Wednesday details provided by Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Directorate (HUR) on how they had used the space vehicle to target Russian military assets. On the official HUR website, the intelligence agency said that the satellite had provided almost 4,200 images, taken over both Ukraine and Russia since it was acquired. It said that more than a third of those had been used to strike Russian targets since 2022.

The website listed the major facilities that had been destroyed using the satellite data which included includes 370 airfields, 238 air defense and radio technical intelligence positions, 153 oil depots and fuel warehouses, 147 missile, aviation weapons and ammunition warehouses and 17 naval bases which together represented billions of dollars.

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The synthetic aperture radar on the ICEYE orbiter allowed Ukraine to identify Russian permanent deployment sites, training grounds, military towns, and mobilization centers as well as allowing Moscow’s personnel movements and assembly areas that allowed military action to be taken. Another advantage is that it was able to clearly see and identify by type enemy vehicles and equipment, even when camouflaged or in wooded areas.

It was HUR who dubbed the ICEYE equipment as the “People's Satellite,” that also enabled HUR to monitor the facilities of Russia's military-industrial complex and its logistics network, including the Kerch Bridge. Subsequent passes also allowed damage assessments to be made following Ukrainian attacks.

The website post expressed HUR’s “boundless gratitude to every citizen who joined the charitable project of the Serhiy Prytula Foundation,” saying the satellite had been “one of the best investments in Ukraine's defense capability.”