Ukraine has access to a trove of commercial satellite images, according to the head of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
A senior US intelligence official has confirmed that Ukraine had access to a vast range of commercial satellite imagery, which was utilized for planning and executing its incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region. However, the US continues to deny having prior knowledge of the incursion.
Vice Admiral Frank Whitworth, director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), commented on Thursday about a report published by The New York Times last week. This report claimed that the US and Britain “have provided Ukraine with satellite imagery and other information” regarding Kursk Region. Earlier this month, Kiev dispatched thousands of heavily armed troops into the region.
The Times report stated that the intelligence was intended “not to help Ukraine push deeper into Russia, but to allow its commanders to better track Russian reinforcements that might attack them or cut off their eventual withdrawal back to Ukraine” and was delivered after the incursion commenced.
Whitworth suggested that the Times sources were referring to commercial satellite imagery, which the US has provided Ukraine access to for years through Global Enhanced GEOINT Delivery (G-EGD), a portal operated by the space firm Maxar.
”There were over 400,000 accounts in that particular portal. And so the availability of commercial imagery is sustained,” he remarked at a panel discussion hosted by the Intelligence and National Security Alliance.
”If that is what they are using for purposes of this particular campaign, this limited campaign in Kursk, then I’ll defer to them to confirm that. But the availability is always there,” he added.
David Cohen, Deputy Director of the CIA, who participated in the same event, stated that based on conversations between his agency and the Ukrainians, “there seems to be intent on retaining some of that [captured Russian] territory for some period of time.”
A significant portion of the panel’s discussion centered on how the US government leverages commercial solutions to enhance its espionage and military capabilities and intends to further utilize these solutions in the future.
Moscow views the Ukraine conflict as a US-led proxy war against Russia, where its neighbor serves as a de facto private military company operating in Washington’s interests. Russian officials maintain that the level of involvement by the US and other NATO members makes them parties to the conflict.