Illegal Starlink terminals helped the Russians advance at the front, including capturing Ugledar.
This was written about in The Washington Post.
According to the Ukrainian military, there is a thriving black market supplying Starlink terminals to Russians at the front, and their distribution has been a major factor in Russia’s recent offensive victories.
Six Ukrainian soldiers and officers from different units in the Donetsk region told The Washington Post that Russia has closed the technological gap by making its forces more cohesive and increasing the number and accuracy of attacks.
An officer with the 72nd Mechanized Brigade, which has defended the Ugledar area since 2022 and was recently forced to retreat, cited Russia’s use of Starlink as one of the important factors, along with a lack of manpower and weapons, that hastened the fall of Ugledar.
The authors of WP recall that hundreds of thousands of Starlink terminals became the basis of the communications system of the Ukrainian army and provided a significant technological advantage over the enemy, which was superior in manpower.
But now Russia has closed this technological gap, improved the coordination of its own forces and the accuracy of fire. Six Ukrainian soldiers and officers from different units fighting in the Donetsk region told the publication about this.
In Ukraine, Starlink provided access to reliable Internet at the front and thus provided significant benefits.
It allowed Ukrainian commanders to see the battlefield in real time thanks to drones, adjust fire, and identify areas where the enemy was most vulnerable, while the Russians relied primarily on slow radio communications. But now the Russians have Starlink.
They simply outweighed us,” an officer from the 72nd mechanized brigade, which has been defending the Ugledar area since 2022, told WP.
He believes that the Russians’ use of Starlink has become an additional advantage, along with an advantage in manpower and weapons.
Starlinks have been noticed in Russian positions for about a year now, but only in recent months have their effects begun to be determined, which became especially noticeable during the Russian advance near Pokrovsk.
Previously, the Russians could not control some of their movements, maneuvers, artillery, and infantry,” the commander of a platoon of drone operators of the 93rd mechanized brigade named Evgeniy told WP.
That has changed now, he says. And the Russians will only continue to improve their skills.
WP reminds you that to activate the terminal you need a phone number, email and a bank account abroad to pay for a monthly subscription to the service.
To do this, service companies are looking for people who can “lend” their data. Users in customer support chats on Telegram say that buying and registering a terminal abroad is not difficult.
This is mainly done in Europe and delivered through the United Arab Emirates.
In one chat there is a warning not to activate the terminal in Russia. Another supplier warns that terminals purchased from the EU may be blocked 90 days after activation. But there is a way out – to register it using Ukrainian data.
In May, it was reported that the American company SpaceX was spending significant resources to counter Russian attempts to jam the Starlink satellite communications system.
At the same time, the head of the space policy department of the US Department of Defense said that the Pentagon had found a way to prevent the unauthorized use of Starlink Internet terminals by the Russian military.
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.