Linking Russian drones to Musk’s SpaceX company’s Starlink satellites will make them more accurate, increase their range and make them harder to jam.
The satellites are also important for Russia’s command and control, “the organization of the operational chain that allows the military at the top to issue orders to all levels of responsibility, down to the fighters,” a Western military source said.
“All militaries that have a little money and need bandwidth use Starlink. It’s flexible, it’s inexpensive and it complements military systems that don’t allow for higher bandwidth,” the source added.
In the conflict in Ukraine, the US satellites “gave Russian units real-time control over their troops and drones, to have an overview of the line of contact” so they could make better decisions, Yuriy Fedorenko, commander of the Ukrainian 429th Achilles Drone Brigade, told Freedom TV.
The satellites are even more important because there is no real frontline where the Russian and Ukrainian armies are in contact, a senior European officer said.
“It is a ‘kill zone’ several kilometers wide, monitored by drones, where small mobile squads operate, trying to strike here and there,” the officer told AFP.
“Many Russian soldiers are constantly moving through the area. These are critical points,” Serhii Beskrestnov, a technology adviser to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, told AFP.
Ukraine says blocking Starlink will have a huge impact on Russia’s armed forces. AFP has not been able to independently assess the consequences.
“For the Russians this is not just a problem, it is a catastrophe,” Beskrestnov said. “We knew they were using Starlink on the front end,” but “we didn’t believe it was that critical.”
The Russian side downplayed the consequences. Valery Tishkov, a communications official for the Russian military, said Starlink was used only marginally and that the military “has all modern domestically produced communications services. The operations control system functions reliably and provides command and control of troops at the front.”
According to several Ukrainian sources, Russia has tried to pay Ukrainians to organize legitimate Starlink accounts that it can then use for its frontline drones. The Ukrainian SBU security service has warned that this is a crime punishable by life imprisonment.
According to the Ukrainian sources, Russia has deployed alternative solutions, but these are not as reliable as Starlink’s low orbit network. Russia has instead used its Yamal and Express geostationary satellites, which are higher up and fewer in number.
“They need a satellite receiver equipped with a large parabolic antenna,” says Beskrestnov.
These are now a prime target for Ukrainian forces and Russia has had to move the antennas 10 to 15 kilometers and deploy amplified Wi-Fi from the receivers to the front lines.
“We are trying to locate these terminals,” the consultant said.
Ukrainian forces retook territory from Russia in February, a rare event during four years of war in which they gradually lost ground amid bitter battles that cost thousands of lives.
On February 5, Russian military observers reported that the Starlink internet terminals used by Moscow on the front lines were disrupted after Musk took action at the request of Kiev.
A senior Ukrainian military official said counterattacks had been launched along the entire front line in a single day, but gave no further details.
The US-based Institute for the Study of War says Ukrainian forces are likely to benefit from Russia’s loss of Starlink.
But so far no dramatic changes have occurred. The European military source said that “very few troops make direct contact with opposing soldiers, and there is no mechanized fighting (which could force a breakthrough), so progress is very slow.”
Published – Feb 20, 2026 09:35 AM IST
#Starlink #lost #blow #Russian #forces #Ukraine #experts