Satellites play a key role not only in communications, but also in reconnaissance and intelligence gathering for the military.
Satellite imagery helps, for example, to monitor troop movements, to assess damage following attacks – such as those on enemy airfields and other high-value targets – and also to prepare such attacks.
It therefore goes without saying that Ukraine, too, not only receives images and assessments directly from partner countries for these purposes, but also has access to a wide network of satellites of its own.
This network is provided by commercial players such as ICEYE and Maxar, as well as Planet Labs, whilst funding is often provided by other countries as part of their support for Ukraine.
The same applies in this case with Planet Labs. Back in early July 2025, the company announced that through its German subsidiary, it had secured a contract worth €240 million from the German government.
In “support of European peace and security” and for a period of several years, the company is to provide dedicated capacity and direct downlink services on Pelican satellites over “specific European regions”, as well as other services.
Ukraine was not mentioned by name, but this came as no surprise, given that the German government had only recently made a U-turn in its communications regarding military support for Ukraine, and many companies with government contracts had, from one day to the next, either stopped issuing press releases on Ukraine or ceased to identify the end-user.
Nevertheless, many observers, including GAU, speculated that the wording of the press release clearly pointed to Ukraine as the end-user. However, until recently, this had not been conclusively proven.
A parliamentary document dated mid-February 2026, which GAU discovered and reviewed today during research, proves beyond doubt that it was not the German government but Ukraine that signed the contract with Planet Labs, and that the German government is “merely” acting as a financier.
This is evident from a written reply from Dr Nils Schmid, Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Ministry of Defence, to a question submitted by Member of Parliament Leon Eckert (Alliance 90/The Greens).
Ukraine is said to have expressed a clear need for these services, following which the German government committed to providing funding as part of its support for Ukraine.
Planet Labs is thus the second company to supply satellite imagery to Ukraine on behalf of, or with funding from, the German government. Already back in October 2024, under the Scholz government, Rheinmetall and ICEYE were commissioned to supply high-resolution SAR satellite imagery to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
As mentioned at the beginning, these images are used by the Ukrainian military not only to respond to or prepare for Russian attacks in near real time, but also to plan their own attacks on high-value Russian targets.
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