Svitlana Moronets

Feb 6, 2026

The analysis

Russians mourn Starlink ban

It is impressive how heavily the Russian army has relied on Western technology during a war it claims to be fighting against the West. After Starlink terminals went offline on both sides of the Ukrainian frontline on Wednesday evening, Russian communications went into disarray. ‘The enemy at the front doesn’t have a problem; the enemy has a catastrophe,’ wrote Serhiy ‘Flash’ Beskrestnov, a Ukrainian defence adviser. ‘All troop command-and-control has broken down. In many areas, assault operations have been halted.’

The reason for the block came thanks to Ukraine’s newly appointed Defence Minister, Mykhailo Fedorov. After just a few days in office, he appealed to Elon Musk’s SpaceX to deactivate Starlink terminals that were not officially registered in the country – and which Russia was using for drone attacks. The pair share a history: on the second day of Russia’s invasion in 2022 when communication centres were being targeted by Russian missiles, Fedorov tagged Musk on Twitter and asked him to provide Kyiv with Starlink stations. ‘While you try to colonise Mars, Russia tries to occupy Ukraine! While your rockets successfully land from space, Russian rockets attack Ukrainian civil people!’ he wrote. The answer was immediate: Musk activated Starlink in Ukraine and sent the first 500 terminals in a matter of days.

The billionaire later joined Donald Trump in abusing Volodymyr Zelensky and calling for him to give up land to Russia. But Starlink remained a reliable and affordable means of satellite communication and was a great advantage for the Ukrainian army. That was until Moscow started buying the terminals from third countries and delivering them to occupied territories, where Starlink service remained active. Russian frontline troops grew dependent on smuggled terminals for high-speed internet and, in recent weeks, its most effective Rubicon drone unit started fitting them on long-range drones. This allowed operators to bypass jammers and fly drones in real-time, significantly improving their ability to strike moving targets deep inside Ukraine.

After Fedorov and SpaceX introduced a Starlink ‘whitelist’, which required the verification of Ukrainian forces and civilians, Russian units were effectively left blind. They were forced to beg for radio donations and tried to bribe Ukrainians via Telegram channels to register terminals in their names. Russian military bloggers insisted that Fedorov’s plan was doomed to fail as it would affect Ukrainian troops as well. However, they are now lashing out at Russia’s Defence Ministry, asking why Moscow has failed to produce a domestic alternative to Starlink and continues to tie its frontline communications to US satellite infrastructure after four years of full-scale war.

‘It turned out that “fighting against Nato” while relying on satellite internet from this very Nato and not promptly developing their own analogues is not a very good idea. Who would have thought it?’ wrote Military Informant, a Russian blogger with more than 620,000 subscribers.

Military channel Voennyi Osvedomitel wrote: ‘As we feared from the outset, it wasn’t just drone terminals that “died” – stationary communications along the frontline went down as well. This has pushed communications and command-and-control in Russia’s armed forces back several years, forcing a return to long-forgotten technologies like wired internet, wifi and radio communications.’

The channel Two Majors called Musk a ‘Ukrainian wh*re’, while Vladimir Solovyov, Russia’s main TV propagandist, urged President Trump to call Musk unless he wants Russia to strike Starlink production facilities or even target US satellites in orbit.

Ukrainian soldiers have reported disruptions on their side as the registration and verification of terminals takes time. However, the system is expected to be fully back online in the coming days while Russian assault activity is already declining. Unless Moscow somehow finds a rapid replacement for Starlink or reverts to world war two technologies, Ukraine appears to be off to a strong start in countering Russian drones and hindering Moscow’s ability to move forward on the frontline.

Portrait of the week in Ukraine

• Elon Musk’s SpaceX blocked Russia from using its Starlink satellites for drone attacks. More above.
• Russia’s second-ranking intelligence officer Vladimir Alexeyev was shot multiple times in Moscow this morning.
• Ukraine and Russia swapped 157 prisoners of war each yesterday after peace talks in Abu Dhabi – the first such exchange in five months.
• Russia launched 71 missiles and 450 drones on Tuesday in its largest mass attack on Ukraine’s energy grid this winter.
• Nato chief Mark Rutte said allies will find more than £11bn to buy US weapons for Ukraine this year during a visit to Kyiv.
• At least seven people were killed in Druzhkivka, eastern Ukraine, after Russian forces bombarded a market in the city with cluster munitions.
• Just over half of Ukrainians do not want to cede the Donbas region to Russia in exchange for security guarantees, according to the latest survey from the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology. Some 40% said they would accept the plan.
• Donald Trump claimed India had agreed to halt purchases of Russian oil if the US agreed to reduce a ‘reciprocal tariff’.
• The Washington Post shut its Kyiv bureau amid wider company cuts.
• The US Pentagon invited two Ukrainian drone firms to compete for attack-drone contracts worth £810m.
• A Polish citizen has been sentenced to more than three years in prison for offering to help Russia assassinate Volodymyr Zelensky.

Wider reading on the war

• Don’t mention ‘Article 5,’ Finland warns US on Ukraine – Politico
• Robots taking the place of soldiers: how ground robotic systems are replacing people on the front lines – Ukrainska Pravda
• The gold bubble has financed Putin’s war machine – but that may be over – Telegraph
• How Ukraine plans to defend itself after the war– Politico
• Epstein’s Russia connections, explained – Kyiv Independent

In pictures

Pavlohrad, central Ukraine: A woman weeps over the body of a loved one after a Russian drone struck a bus carrying mine workers. At least 12 people were killed and 16 others were injured. (Credit: Ukraine’s emergency service)

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Quote of the week

‘The war must be stopped. But if the world – the United States, Europe – lacks the power to stop Russian strikes, who will believe it has the power to truly prevent the war from flaring up again?’

– Volodymyr Zelensky expresses his frustration with Russia violating the energy ceasefire agreed by Donald Trump

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The war in numbers

Discounts on Russian oil being offered to Indian refiners

$9 a barrel

some $5 cheaper than Venezuelan barrels

Russian forces have attacked Ukraine’s energy sector

217 times

since the year began

Ukrainian soldiers killed on the battlefield since 2022

at least 55,000

in addition to thousands Ukraine considers missing

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A note from the author: Thank you for your interest in this newsletter. I hope it helps you to understand my country – and the war – better from a Ukrainian perspective. If you enjoy the Ukraine in Focus newsletter, please forward it to someone you know: you can sign up here. My writing for The Spectator can be found here. All feedback is welcome: svitlana@spectator.co.uk