White House says US will 'hold Russia accountable' if they attack commercial satellites in Ukraine

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The White House on Thursday said that any attacks on U.S. satellites or infrastructure will be met with an "appropriate response" after a senior Russian official told the United Nations that the Kremlin sees commercial satellites helping Ukraine as "a legitimate target for retaliation."

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that Russians have been "trying to pursue anti-satellite technology and capability."

"Any attack on U.S. infrastructure will be met with an appropriate response in an appropriate way," Kirby told reporters Thursday. "And we're going to continue to pursue all means to expose, deter and hold Russia accountable for any such attack should it occur."

A SpaceX Starlink internet terminal installed in Odesa, southern Ukraine.  (Nina Lyashonok/ Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre later said that the U.S. will "pursue all means to explore, deter and hold Russia accountable" for any attacks on U.S. satellites. 

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The comments came after Russian foreign ministry spokesman Konstantin Vorontsov told the United Nations that the U.S.' use of "civilian, including commercial, infrastructure elements in outer space for military purposes" is an "extremely dangerous trend." 

"These States do not realize that such actions in fact constitute indirect participation in military conflicts," Vorontsov said, according to his prepared remarks. "Quasi-civilian infrastructure may become a legitimate target for retaliation."

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Starlink 4-20 mission launches from Space Launch Complex 40 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Sept. 4, 2022. (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)

Vorontsov did not call out any companies by name, but Elon Musk's SpaceX has spent more than $80 million to support Ukrainian forces through Starlink, a network of thousands of satellites that connect with user terminals on the ground. 

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SpaceX had asked the Pentagon for funding, but Musk tweeted this week that he assured Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov that SpaceX "would not turn off Starlink even if [the Department of Defense] refused to provide funding." 

SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.