Ukrainian civilians and relatives of those killed have filed a lawsuit in a U.S. federal court against American technology company Ubiquiti, accusing it of facilitating the operation of a Russian military communications network that the plaintiffs say is being used to carry out attacks on civilians in Ukraine.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleges that Ubiquiti radio bridges and airMAX technology are used by the Russian military to provide communications between drone operators, reconnaissance units, command centers and strike teams. It alleges that Ubiquiti's long-range wireless radio bridge antennas and airMAX technology became critical infrastructure in Russia's command-and-control network — connecting drone pilots, reconnaissance feeds, commanders, and attack units in real time across a roughly 100-kilometer "kill zone" that Russian operators have turned into a "human safari."
According to the complaint, Ubiquiti was repeatedly warned that Ubiquiti devices were being smuggled into Russia and deployed by Russian forces in Ukraine. The complaint cites U.S. export-control restrictions, Russian import data, public reporting, Russian military statements, battlefield images and videos, and Ubiquiti's own device telemetry. It alleges that after Russia's full-scale invasion, exports of Ubiquiti products to Russia surged by more than 60%; Russian state media showed soldiers installing Ubiquiti antennas in occupied Ukraine; Russian military-linked sources described Ubiquiti equipment as essential to frontline communications; and Ubiquiti had location data showing where its devices were operating.
The lawsuit further alleges that Ubiquiti continued providing firmware updates and technical support that helped sustain devices operating in Russia's battlefield network. It also alleges the company could have disrupted the pipeline and disabled devices used by Russia — including through geofencing, terminating distributors tied to sanctions-evasion routes, and building a remote-disable safety feature into airMAX firmware — but failed to do so.
