Russian forces face catastrophe at front as their Starlink terminals go offline, Ukrainian military adviser says

Starlink terminals reportedly stopped working en masse for Russian forces on 5 February. The Russians are complaining that they are unable to restore the connection and that this will affect their coordination along the entire front line.

Source: Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov, adviser to the Ukrainian defence minister on technological issues

Quote: "For the enemy at the front, this is not just a problem – it's a catastrophe. Command and control have completely collapsed. Assault operations have been halted in many areas.

As for our troops, it turned out that problems occurred among those who did not promptly submit applications for private Starlink terminals. The processing is ongoing."

Details: On 5 February, Russian social media channels began widely reporting that Starlink terminals had stopped working.

The Russians are complaining that no amount of terminal reboots help and that communications have disappeared across all units of the Russian armed forces.

It is noted that the situation has effectively reverted to February 2022, when there was a complete lack of coordination between Russian units.

Nevertheless, Ukrainian forces have also reported problems with Starlink terminals, but communications are gradually being restored.

Background:

• On 25 January, radio technology specialist Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov, who became an adviser to Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov on technological issues, said that Russia was likely using Starlink satellite internet to control Shahed attack UAVs.
• US businessman Elon Musk responded to Fedorov's request to help address the issue of Russia's use of Starlink on strike UAVs.
• It later emerged that SpaceX had taken countermeasures against the use of Starlink satellite internet on Russian strike UAVs.
• On 1 February, Musk noted that measures to counter Russia's unauthorised use of Starlink had likely shown results.
• Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov reported the gradual introduction of a system that will allow only authorised Starlink terminals to operate in Ukraine.
• The Cabinet of Ministers approved a resolution introducing a "white list" for Starlink satellite terminals. Soon, only verified and registered terminals will operate in Ukraine; all others will be disconnected.

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