News
The satellite internet service Starlink stopped working for Russian forces in Ukraine on the evening of Feb. 4, according to multiple reports (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) from Russian military correspondents and pro-war Telegram channels. Earlier this week, the Ukrainian government announced plans to introduce approved “whitelists” for Starlink terminals operating in the country as part of an effort to thwart their use by the Russian military.
Some Russian war bloggers said the outage affected both sides of the front line:
“Starlinks are down across the entire front. The enemy’s are down too,” wrote military blogger Vladimir Romanov.
On the Ukrainian side, reports indeed emerged of disruptions affecting some users. However, a Ukrainian serviceman who runs the Telegram channel Ofitser (lit. “Officer”) wrote that Starlink was “generally working.”
A prominent Russian pro-war channel also noted that Moscow’s forces have “no real alternative” to Starlink, with “a lot of things, including command on the battlefield, depending [on it], and everything was taken for granted.”
“It will now suddenly become clear that units cannot operate effectively without communications. That will be news for some people in high offices,” wrote the Telegram channel Belarusian Silovik (1, 2). “It should be noted that mobile Starlink terminals are the only option for satellite internet for both sides of the conflict. There are no others. For Ukraine, that is clear. In our case, as blasphemous as it may sound, there are ‘no analogues.’”
Russian units on the front line were also left without satellite communications, including on the Kupiansk axis.
“No terminal reboots will help. This will hit forward assault and holding groups the hardest, for example in Kupiansk. They have lost any ability to communicate with the outside world, unfortunately,” wrote the channel Alex Parker Returns.
Earlier this week, the Ukrainian government announced plans to create a government-approved “whitelist” for Starlink satellite terminals, requiring them to be registered with the state or face disconnection. Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said the move was driven by the need to counter Russian drones, many of which are also equipped with Starlink terminals. Under the new rules, all terminals used by individuals and companies in Ukraine have to be registered, while unregistered users’ devices will be disconnected. The requirement does not apply to the military, which uses a separate communications channel.