Four Russian military satellites came within 13 kilometers of a radar satellite operated by a Finnish company that supplies Ukraine with battlefield imagery. ‘Legitimate targets,’ Moscow said in 2022.
Dangerous maneuvers in orbit
Last month, four Russian military satellites — Kosmos-2610, Kosmos-2611, Kosmos-2612, and Kosmos-2613 — altered their orbits and moved toward ICEYE-X36, a radar satellite that has been supplying data to Ukraine’s military since 2022, according to a May 22 report by the analytics firm Integrity ISR.
The dangerous maneuvers came several months after the Finnish-American satellite operator ICEYE and Ukraine’s Defense Ministry signed a new cooperation agreement. Under its terms, Ukraine’s armed forces received expanded access to high-quality radar satellite imagery.
Unlike optical reconnaissance satellites, ICEYE’s satellites use synthetic aperture radars — known as SAR — to capture images.
This allows for high-quality surface imaging regardless of weather or time of day.
What do we know about these “hunter” satellites?
They were launched on April 17 at 2:17 a.m. Moscow time from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome aboard a Soyuz-2.1b rocket. As is standard with military launches, Roscosmos disclosed nothing about the payload beyond confirming that “spacecraft in the interests of Russia’s Defense Ministry” had successfully reached orbit. The agency did not disclose how many spacecraft were aboard.
The U.S. Space Force, which tracks all artificial objects in orbit, logged the launch in its Space-Track catalog. That data — also analyzed by independent researchers — shows that a Volga upper stage separated from the rocket after launch. Cosmos-2609 separated from the stage approximately two hours later; two hours after that, five additional spacecraft — Cosmos-2610, Cosmos-2611, Cosmos-2612, Cosmos-2613 and Cosmos-2614 — simultaneously entered independent flight.
No information about the type, purpose, or characteristics of these satellites is available from open sources. Bart Hendrickx, an independent researcher of the Russian space program, told Meduza that these may be a new type of satellite, since the combination of the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle and the Volga upper stage is unusual. Previously, the Volga upper stage was used with Soyuz-2.1v rockets, and only once with a Soyuz-2.1a.
What happened in orbit?
The first satellite, Kosmos-2609, was placed into orbit from the upper stage at an altitude of 495–500 kilometers, with an inclination of 98.25 degrees. The others were placed at 547 kilometers, with an inclination of 96.95 degrees.
Between May 14 and 20, the satellites began maneuvering: their orbital inclination shifted by 0.8 degrees. As a result, they ended up in the same orbit as ICEYE-X36, at an altitude of 550 kilometers and an inclination of 97.8 degrees.
By May 29, the satellites had closed in to near-maximum proximity. Four such episodes were recorded between Kosmos-2614 and ICEYE-X36 over two and a half hours. In two of them, the gap between the satellites shrank to roughly 13 kilometers. In the other two, to 16 and 18 kilometers.
According to Space-Track and the public portion of the TAROT Saber Astronautics platform, the Kosmos satellites remain in the same orbit as the Finnish satellite, leaving them positioned to close in again at any time.
According to Integrity ISR, the Russian satellites remain in the same orbital plane with similar inclinations and a small difference in a measurement known as the right ascension of the ascending node, or RAAN. While inclination measures the tilt of a satellite’s orbit relative to the equator, RAAN marks where that orbit crosses the equatorial plane, which can occur at any of 360 degrees. The Cosmos satellites and ICEYE are within 0.01 to one degree of each other on that scale, an extremely tight margin for low Earth orbit.
The behavior of these satellites follows a pattern consistent with so-called inspector satellites — spacecraft that Russia and other nations have long tested and deployed for eavesdropping on, surveilling, and possibly even destroying other spacecraft. Meduza has previously reported on such spacecraft and their potential use for surveillance and sabotage in orbit.
Why this particular satellite? Why now?
ICEYE has been supplying high-quality satellite imagery to government agencies and private firms since 2014. The company’s satellites can capture images at resolutions as fine as 25 centimeters; some newer models can achieve 16.
ICEYE’s satellites and those of similar companies use SAR (synthetic aperture radar) technology. Rather than an optical camera, an antenna sends a radio beam toward Earth and records its reflection from the planet’s surface. Unlike a conventional optical camera, SAR can render precise terrain contours. And because the radio beam penetrates clouds and reflects regardless of lighting conditions, high-precision images can be captured several times a day — at nearly any hour — and changes on the ground can be tracked throughout the day.
ICEYE says that its unique phased array means the antenna does not need to rotate mechanically, which greatly increases the field of view, imaging speed, and the ability to switch between different modes. The technology is used for a wide range of purposes — monitoring sea ice and tracking oil spills, among others — and it is nearly indispensable for military applications.
ICEYE has launched 70 satellites, with Space-Track showing 54 as currently active. The company has contracts with military organizations from several Western nations, including the United States, Poland, Germany, and Finland.
Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, ICEYE has signed an agreement with the Serhiy Prytula Charitable Foundation. Under the terms of the deal, the foundation funded full access for Ukraine’s armed forces to one of ICEYE’s radar satellites.
Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate later said it had obtained more than 4,000 satellite images of Russian military facilities, including airfields, oil refineries, naval ports, and other infrastructure. In 2025, ICEYE chief executive Rafał Modrzewski attended a meeting that included Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Finnish President Alexander Stubb and defense industry representatives.
But is this really pursuit? Could the satellites have ended up close to each other by coincidence?
Not all experts agree that the Russian satellites are deliberately pursuing the ICEYE satellite.
Astronomer and space program researcher Jonathan McDowell has suggested that the Russian satellites’ entry into the same orbit as ICEYE-X36 may simply be coincidence. The 500-to-550-kilometer altitude range is extremely popular for all kinds of satellites. In an emailed comment to Meduza, McDowell noted that for the Russian satellites to be tracking ICEYE-X36, they would need to maintain a stable distance of no more than a few hundred kilometers from it. “The orbital data shows that nothing of the sort is happening,” he said.
Fellow astronomer and spy-satellite researcher Marco Langbroek also cast doubt on the space-war theory. Because ICEYE operates more than 40 satellites, he explained, the Russian satellites’ proximity to one of them is more likely coincidental. “Until we see more Kosmos satellites placed into the orbital plane of other ICEYE satellites, I would say this is interesting, but not proven,” Langbroek wrote.
Still, there are reasons to think the close approach is intentional:
- First, the artificial satellite nearest to the Kosmos cluster in the same orbital plane is ICEYE-X36 itself. That is the contention of Greg Gillinger, a space intelligence specialist who analyzed the satellites’ coordinates using the Saber Astronautics platform.
- Second, after reaching orbit, the Russian satellites changed their orbital inclination using their own engines rather than being inserted directly into the target orbit. This is unusual for spacecraft, since any fuel use shortens their operational lifespan. Estimates suggest the maneuver required a delta-v comparable to what would be needed to raise an orbit by 160 kilometers.
- Third, one ICEYE satellite is known to have been dedicated exclusively to intelligence tasks for Ukraine — something the company has publicly disclosed. This could explain the motive for targeting one particular satellite. It should be noted, however, that ICEYE has not publicly disclosed which specific satellite in its constellation performs these tasks. Russian intelligence may possess that information — or it may regard the targeting of one of the satellites as a “symmetrical response.”
In 2022, Konstantin Vorontsov, the deputy head of Russia’s UN delegation, declared at the United Nations that the use of commercial satellites in space could make them a “legitimate target”: “Quasi-civilian infrastructure could turn out to be a legitimate target for a counterstrike.” Russia also possesses anti-satellite weapons: both anti-satellite missiles and satellites equipped with sub-satellites designed to destroy other spacecraft. Such systems are being developed at the Lavochkin Research and Production Association and the Central Scientific Research Institute of Chemistry and Mechanics.
Bart Hendrickx, the Russian space program researcher, told Meduza that there remains a high probability the satellites ended up in the same orbit by chance. Whereas Russian inspector satellites typically track classified American spacecraft, the motive for monitoring a commercial satellite is less clear — why track a satellite whose design and capabilities are publicly known?
“It’s more likely that the Cosmos satellites ended up in this orbit by chance. If you wanted to study the ICEYE satellite or somehow affect its functioning, why would you need five satellites?” Hendricks reasoned. “For now, we should watch what the Russian satellites do in the coming days and weeks. Then we’ll be able to say with confidence whether there’s a link to ICEYE-X36.”
Explainer by Meduza