The move by which Ukraine managed to recover significant portions of the territory conquered by Russia
Ukraine has recaptured about 400 square kilometers of territory after Ukrainian authorities decommissioned thousands of Starlink terminals illegally used by Russian forces, according to US intelligence assessments cited by the Kyiv Post.
This assessment was also confirmed by the statements of Ukrainian officials. Mihailo Fedorov, Ukraine's Minister of Digital Transformation, said the disabling of the Starlink network, along with medium-range attack drones, helped shift the balance of the battlefield in Ukraine's favor.
The advance was made possible in part by a significant weakening of Russia's frontline capabilities, according to a US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) report prepared for the Pentagon's Inspector General.
The agency underscores how much Moscow's forces had come to rely on smuggled American commercial technology to conduct their daily operations on the battlefield.
For months, Russian forces have used black market supply networks to install thousands of SpaceX Starlink terminals along the front line. The DIA report points out that the Kremlin has used the satellite network to solve its chronic tactical communications problems, using high-speed data to coordinate troop movements and stream real-time video footage for long-range drone and artillery strikes.
The turning point came in February, when Ukrainian digital intelligence teams, working closely with SpaceX, implemented a rigorous vetting system and blocked any unauthorized terminal operating in the conflict zone.
The “double blow” suffered by the Russians
According to US intelligence, the impact on Russian operations was immediate. The loss of access to Starlink weakened Russia's ability to coordinate reconnaissance, drone operations and artillery targeting along portions of the front.
The timing of the Starlink service disruption was also problematic for Russian commanders. The DIA's findings reveal that the disruption of the satellite service coincided with an aggressive internal Kremlin crackdown on the use of the Telegram messaging app among its soldiers.
For years, Russian troops have used Telegram as an informal and unsecured substitute for broken military radios. The simultaneous loss of both Starlink data streams and access to Telegram was a “double whammy” for the Russian front lines, throwing ground commands into a communications vacuum.
Ukrainian drone operators monitoring the front lines at the time reported general confusion, localized panic, and instances of fatal friendly fire among retreating Russian units.
“Without Starlink, they were basically pushed back to Cold War-era communications,” said a Ukrainian soldier with the call sign Konosh.
While the U.S. intelligence assessment underscores the impact of the Starlink disruption, Ukrainian officials have also highlighted that broader battlefield planning and drone operations are behind the advances.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy previously said that the operation in the south was already underway before the decision on Starlink.
