Japan agrees to provide satellite intelligence to Ukraine — media

Japan will supply Ukraine’s military intelligence with geospatial satellite data, including radar imagery from SAR (synthetic aperture radar) satellites.

“This is the first-ever step of this level of cooperation from Japan," the analysts wrote.

"The data will be provided by the Japanese institute iQPS.”

The agreement signed by Japan and Ukraine’s Military Intelligence (HUR) includes integrating iQPS systems into Ukraine’s intelligence platforms.

The report highlighted that despite Ukraine having access to Pléiades Neo satellites by Airbus Group and expanded image-capture rights on French CSO-range satellites (French military Reconnaissance satellite program), it still lacks what the US used to provide.

“No European operator is capable of delivering optical satellite imagery at the level of the United States and commercial US services — whether in terms of daily data availability or access to live-streaming tools,” the monitoring group wrote.

On March 3, US President Donald Trump decided to halt military assistance to Ukraine following a public confrontation with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the White House. On March 5, a newspaper affiliated with the CIA confirmed that the US had suspended aid and the sharing of intelligence data with Ukraine.

As a result, access to Maxar satellite imagery was cut off for both Ukrainian defense forces and private users. However, the company expressed willingness to explore “workaround options” for delivering data to Ukraine.

On March 11, following negotiations between Ukraine and the US in Saudi Arabia, the Ukrainian Presidential Office announced that the US will immediately lift the pause on intelligence-sharing and resume security assistance to Ukraine.

On March 12, Maxar Technologies reinstated Ukrainian user access to satellite imagery.