Ukrainians are praising SpaceX founder Elon Musk for his actions to stop Russia’s military from using the satellite internet system Starlink for communications and drone guidance. But another U.S.-based tech company, Ubiquiti, is facing backlash for its silence amid revelations that Russian forces are widely using its products to extend Wi-Fi signals, despite U.S. restrictions.

...

In contrast to SpaceX’s response, Ubiquiti and its CEO, Robert Pera, owner of the Memphis Grizzlies NBA team, have not publicly commented on a January 2026 investigation by Hunterbrook Media that documented widespread use of its products by Russian forces. Ubiquiti is the world’s most prominent manufacturer of Wi-Fi “bridges” that extend signals over long distances and are used by Russia’s military for critical communications and drone operations in Ukraine.

Ubiquiti’s products appear to be widely available in Russia, mostly sourced from distributors in third countries such as Kazakhstan and Turkey, Hunterbrook found. One Ukrainian communications officer told the outlet that an estimated 80 percent of the Russian bridges he observed near the front line had come from Ubiquiti. Russian units often receive the bridges from volunteers who purchase them using crowdfunded money.

This article is two weeks old, but I have not seen any solid confirmation that these allegations are false and that Ubiquiti isn't at fault here and I find that concerning even though I can't find anything recently to additionally verify these allegations.

https://hntrbrk.com/ubiquiti/

https://hntrbrk.com/ubiquiti-epstein/

reddit post from 4 days ago on /r/ubiquiti about this topic with no clear information pointing to a refutation of these allegations other than "well they are going to get it SOMEHOW" which is a shitty excuse in my opinion.

https://old.reddit.com/r/Ubiquiti/comments/1r6busg/ubiquiti_breaks_sanctions_and_sell_equipment_that/

top 4 comments

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[–] abcdqfr@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

Referring to the ubiquiti Epstein link, very interesting, but the connotations are somewhat concerning. It is no different on the grapheneos front. Systems friendly to professionals mindful of their privacy are also friendly to savvy criminals. Ubiquiti being no exception. Is the brand of Ethernet cable also to blame, considering it makes infiltration harder than wifi?

[–] towerful@programming.dev 18 points 1 day ago

So Russia is using point-to-point radio.

Musk runs a service that gives internet everywhere and has the ability to pinpoint the ground access point precisely, as well as requiring a billing account to access.
You can't use starlink without the service provider knowing.

You can use cheap, 2nd hand, outdated, whatever network equipment to create your own local network without anyone knowing. It can be entirely airgapped and still work.

Unifi/Ubiquiti point to point radio kit is extremely easy to get hold of an can be used entirely airgapped (because it's on the border of pro & consumer level kit).
That's like saying "Russia is using ethernet cables" or "Russia found to be using intel NICs" or "Russia found to be using Mellanox SFP modules".
That can't be restricted.

The ability to tune in a point to point wireless network and maintain that ALL the way to the frontline takes skills. Any mid station can be targeted and isolate a bunch of frontline networks. Running multipath redundancy links is a significant challenge.

The ability to drop something on the ground and have instant internet access anywhere (starlink) is not a skill. It's an enabler, and musk enabled.

[–] femtek@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I keep seeing the same hit piece pushed by short sellers. Ubiquity doesn't control where their hardware goes outside of their own supply.

[–] halcyoncmdr@piefed.social 8 points 1 day ago

Not to mention that Ubiquiti gear doesn't require you to have any sort of active account. You can set it up and manage it entirely separate from the Internet. And there's plenty of used hardware available that still works perfectly fine.

Starlink requires an account and it knows exactly where the receiving panel is located. None of that applies to Ubiquiti equipment.