SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has denied widespread reports that Starlink has sold equipment to Russia.

Kyiv's main military intelligence agency alleged that Russian forces in occupied Ukraine have been using Starlink terminals for satellite Internet.

Starlink has been supporting Ukraine with terminals since the war began with Russia two years ago.

"Cases of the Russian occupiers’ use of the given devices have been registered. It is beginning to take on a systemic nature,” said Ukrainian defense intelligence (GUR) spokesperson Andriy Yusov earlier this week.

The GUR claims to have intercepted Russian soldiers discussing how to set up the terminals.

In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, thousands of Starlink terminals were given to Ukraine, some of which were paid for by the US government and other governments.

Starlink has always said it does not do business of any kind with Russia’s government or military.

"A number of false news reports claim that SpaceX is selling Starlink terminals to Russia. This is categorically false," said Musk on his social media platform, X.

"To the best of our knowledge, no Starlinks have been sold directly or indirectly to Russia."

Starlink terminals are geofenced, meaning they are unable to work in unauthorized locations, something Musk appears to echo on X, in response to a question as to whether Starlink would know if a terminal was activated in Russia.

Sudan taps into Starlink to combat outages

Elsewhere, in Sudan, Starlink terminals are being used to provide a satellite Internet service in the country by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces amid a nationwide Internet blackout.

The RSF has had access to Starlink technology since August, reports Bloomberg, citing diplomats and a humanitarian official in the Darfur region.

Internet services in the country went down last week, as tensions have continued to rise between the RSF and the military.

It was alleged by the army-aligned state news agency that the RSF is behind the outage, labeling it as a "deliberate move." The RSF has not commented on the accusation.

Last month, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that 10.7 million people have been forced out of their homes in Sudan since the conflict kicked off in April. This figure includes nine million displaced internally. More than 12,000 people have died.