Us Block on the Maxar Boute satellite images of Ukrainian drone pilots

• An American government agency cut Ukraine from high resolution satellite imaging.
• A drone operator told Bi that Maxar images are essential to fly in GPS areas.
• Maxar’s imagery, in particular, helps its unit to find and reach Russian targets.

The Maxar Satellite Commercial Imagery Company has confirmed that it suspended the sharing of American images commissioned with Ukraine, a decision that seriously constrains the Ukrainian drone pilots trying to defend their homeland.

This last decision is part of the Drastic freezing of the Trump administration of American aid and intelligence support for its ally. He will seriously hinder the way drone pilots can target Russian forces or locate their movements, a pilot with Business Insider said. The widespread scramble of GPS navigation forced Ukraine drone drones to rely on high -resolution images, especially those produced by Maxar.

Maxar told BI on Friday that the American government had suspended the Ukrainian accounts of the Global Improved Geoint Delivery Program, or GEGD, an important government portal to share images purchased by the government with allies.

Maxar is contracted with the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) of the program. The NGA told BI that it had “temporarily suspended” access “in accordance with the administration directive on support for Ukraine”.

Change hinders Ukraine’s conscience to the Russian forces behind the front lines and obstruct their deep strike campaign which targeted the Russian supply lines and the ammunition deposits, said Dimko Zhluktenko, who works in Ukraine’s unmanned systems.

This decision, reported for the first time by Ukrainian Outlet Militornyi on the basis of anonymous sources, comes just after the United States has announced that it paused its sharing of information with Ukraine and a few days after President Donald Trump announced an indefinite break in American aid to Ukraine, leaving the future of a majority of arms in doubt.

Like Starlink, the Internet SpaceX Internet satellite service provided to Ukraine through US government contracts, commercial satellite images are essential for the planning and execution of Ukraine’s military operations.

Zhluktenko said that Ukraine’s unmanned systems for a branch specializing in drone operations are based more on the satellite imagery of private companies like Maxar than on the information given directly by the US government.

Without Maxar imaging, “Deepstrike drone operators will not also get precise targeting,” Zhluktenko told Bi.

“The intelligence services will have a less good understanding of Russian stocks and repair factories” and will have “a worst understanding of the capacity of Russia”.

He said that his unit often used Maxar satellite images to plan recognition drone missions, to find deep strike targets and places where Russia stored equipment such as tanks and vehicles, and to see the results of these deep strikes.

Zhluktenko said Ukrainian soldiers use a mixture of different satellite images companies, but that Maxar stood out due to the quality of his images. He estimated that 75% of the units that use drone imaging largely rest on Maxar specifically because “high -quality satellite images and cards are a must”.

In addition to his help to Ukraine, the images of the company have largely documented the changes and damage occurring during the war.

Drones have become an increasingly important part of Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion. Ukraine can make drones itself, while its western aid supply, although large, has often come with conditions or delays and has an unclear future.

Through the section of 600 miles from the fronts, drones have won the roles of anti -tank missiles and other weapons. Even cheap drones hit far behind the lines of Russia, destroyed equipment parts worth millions and have greatly contributed to Ukraine which retains Russia. The USF, created in 2024, is considered the first military branch of the world devoted solely to the drone war.

Ukrainian drone units last November represented at least 80% of Russian front line losses, the New York Times then reported.

This means weakening Ukraine drones – especially at the same time as helping the United States is interrupted – could have a major impact on the battlefield. This effect becomes more pronounced as the imagery continues, allowing Russia of the mass of aggression with a lower chance of being identified.

And Ukrainian drone units have become more and more dependent on satellite imaging as a way to move around Russian jamming.

Zhluktenko said that the use of GPS is impossible in highly disputed areas, because the scrambling efforts are so high.

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Instead of location with GPs, drone operators are increasingly oriented by comparing the view of the drone camera with cards and satellite images, Zhluktenko said. In this way, Maxar technology helps them “navigate the battlefield”.

Ukraine has developed drones working in this direction – With software that compares what the drone sees in the photos and video of the area which was previously captured – to bypass the Russian jamming.

The American company Vermeer announced last month that it included its technology in Ukrainian drones. This technology preloads satellite images on drones so that they do not need to count on the GPS.

Zhlutenko said the Trump administration’s actions weaken Ukraine and could be used against other American allies.

In 2023, the NGA awarded Maxar a $ 192 million contract over five years which would help provide us with allies with images “composed of high -resolution synthetic radar (SAR) and 3D data products”, the company announced.

The information freezing ordered by Trump can have a most immediate impact by limiting the effectiveness of Ukraine air defenses, which are improved by early alert sensors.

The more information of services in the United States continues and its military risks rise, the more likely it is that Ukraine will have to be satisfied with commercial satellite image companies outside the United States and count on other types of sensors such as high altitude drones.

But losing Maxar more broadly, and American intelligence, is a deficit that all that technology could not easily replace.