Russian Official Says Starlink Outage Doesn’t Affect Drone Ops
Deputy Defense Minister Aleksey Krivoruchko stated in comments to the Vesti news outlet on Tuesday that “Starlink terminals have been disabled for two weeks, but this has not affected the intensity and effectiveness of unmanned systems.”
He added that the assessment is backed by “objective monitoring data on the destruction” of Ukrainian equipment and manpower.
Earlier in the month, Ukraine’s defense minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, announced that Kyiv approved a measure introducing a so-called “white list” system for Starlink devices. Under the new arrangement, only terminals that are officially verified and registered will be permitted to function within the country.
“Everything else will be disconnected,” Fedorov said, explaining that the step — carried out in cooperation with SpaceX — was initiated in response to "the use of Starlink by the Russians."
In late January, Fedorov also revealed that the Ukrainian Defense Ministry reached out to SpaceX “within hours of reports that Russian drones equipped with Starlink connectivity were operating over Ukrainian cities.”
The issue drew international attention after Poland’s deputy prime minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, posted on the US-based social media platform X, calling on SpaceX chief Elon Musk to prevent Russian forces from utilizing the satellite network to strike Ukrainian urban areas, according to reports.
Separately, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War indicated that Russian troops have been making greater use of drones fitted with Starlink systems to increase the distance of their attacks. The organization warned that these medium-range strikes take advantage of gaps in Ukraine’s air defenses and present a significant risk to key infrastructure, as stated by reports.
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