Five Space Lessons Russia’s Invasion Taught Ukraine

[Grim Reaper 6]

Before Russia’s February invasion, Ukrainian officials viewed space as “not so critical for national defense–that you should not spend a lot of money on space–because it's expensive, and you should maybe spend on something much more clear, down to Earth. It will be easier to explain after and before the elections,” said Volodymyr Usov, former chairman of the State Space Agency of Ukraine.

Kyiv officials “had years of discussions” but never committed the funding to obtain its own imagery satellites. It was completely reliant on Western partners and commercial imagery from firms like Maxar to show the world what was happening when Russia invaded. https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2022/07/five-space-lessons-russias-invasion-taught-ukraine/374101/