Russian military satellite stalks US spacecraft helping Ukraine, raising fears of attack in space

A Russian military satellite has come into close proximity with a US-registered spacecraft that has been connected to Ukraine's war effort, sparking concerns that Moscow is preparing to intrude on Western intelligence efforts in space.

The Russian satellite, known as Kosmos 2612, has been tracking ICEYE-X36, a commercial radar-imaging satellite operated by Finnish-founded company ICEYE.

The two satellites could have come within a few hundred metres of each other on October 18, says Dutch satellite tracker Marco Langbroek, but uncertainties in orbital data make it hard to determine just how close.

The "unusual manoeuvres" of the Russian satellite were executed over weeks and involved the change of its orbit to closely follow the trajectory of ICEYE-X36.

The incident is particularly troubling because of the satellite's ties to Ukraine.

ICEYE offers radar imagery that can be helpful to military units for observation of troop movements and equipment, even when it's cloudy or dark at night.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) indicated that Russia's actions could enable it to monitor, disrupt or even harm the commercial spaceship.

However, there is no confirmed evidence that an attack has taken place.

The data available to the public does not show that the satellite ICEYE-X36 was hit or knocked out of orbit, Langbroek said in a public statement.

Russia has not made public its intentions for Kosmos 2612's manoeuvres.