Russia plans to launch its own, smaller version of Elon Musk’s Starlink ​satellite broadband system next year, Alexei Shelobkov, CEO ‌of Iks Holding, the company developing the service, said on Friday.

“The good news is that it is already being ​created. Satellites are already being launched. In ​the coming weeks, we will begin testing, and ⁠as promised, it will start operating commercially in ​2027,” Shelobkov told a panel discussion at the ​St. Petersburg Economic Forum.

Successful Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refineries and other industrial sites in recent months have been linked ​by some military experts in part to the ​ability of the latest generation of AI-powered Ukrainian drones to connect ‌to ⁠SpaceX’s Starlink network, which is more resilient to jamming.

Ukraine said in January that Russia was using Starlink terminals to guide its drones into Ukrainian territory and ​that it ​was working with ⁠SpaceX to stop this.

The company Bureau 1440, part of Iks Holding, said ​in March that it had launched its ​first ⁠16 low-orbit Rassvet satellites, aiming to increase their number to 900 over several years. SpaceX currently has over ⁠10,000 ​satellites in orbit. Starlink is ​banned in Russia, and the use of its equipment is subject ​to fines.