A senior communications officer of the 59th Separate Assault Brigade of Unmanned Systems of the Ukrainian Armed Forces told Espresso TV that the number of Russian reconnaissance drones in the Ukrainian rear has dropped sharply since Starlink was disabled for Russian forces.
“We can say that since the opponent’s Starlink was shut down, we have been recording fewer enemy drones in our rear. Previously, the Russians used Starlink on the ‘Molniya’ drones, which flew up to 50 km and almost reached Pavlohrad. These drones acted like queens and relays, dropping several FPV drones each. Now, after the decision to block Starlink for the Russian army, such strikes are practically no longer recorded,” the officer said, as cited by UNIAN’s Telegram channel.
It is recalled that Elon Musk announced progress in limiting Russia’s use of the Starlink network. By 1 February, temporary restrictions on Starlink operations were introduced, according to Ukrainian Defense Ministry advisor Serhiy Beskrestnov. Kyiv created a “white list” to ensure that only approved Ukrainian terminals operate over the country’s territory.
