Russian troops search for radios after Starlink shutdown
Following the shutdown of unverified Starlink terminals in Ukraine, Russian troops have faced serious communication problems and begun searching for alternative means of contact. In particular, so-called Z Telegram channels have published appeals from occupying forces asking volunteers to provide radios and other equipment to maintain communications on the front line.
This has been reported with reference to Z-affiliated Telegram channels.
One such channel, Voenkory Russkoy Vesny (“War Correspondents of the Russian Spring”), announced a fundraising campaign to raise 8.5 million roubles to purchase equipment for Russian forces.
“Due to the blocking of Starlink terminals on virtually all fronts, command and control have become significantly more difficult. Fighters are writing to us asking for help with equipment — radio links and radio sets,” the statement said.
Russian volunteers have also been posting videos from the front line featuring occupying troops, in which the so-called “heroes of the special military operation” complain about the Starlink shutdown.
“We’ve been left without communications,” one soldier says in a video.
It is worth noting that Russian military experts have also been voicing widespread complaints about the loss of Starlink access, describing it as an “Achilles’ heel” for the Russian army.
“This is all very bad, especially given how crucial communications are on the front line,” Telegram blogger Roman Alyokhin wrote.
“This is our Achilles’ heel,” a good commander once told me about Starlink,” Russian military blogger Aleksandr Kots wrote in a separate post.
As previously reported, the blocking of Starlink has led to incidents of “friendly fire” within the Russian army.
In recent days, Russian forces on the front line have encountered serious problems due to the blocking of Starlink terminals. Command and control have been hampered, and assault operations have been partially suspended.
Meanwhile, Ukraine continues to verify Starlink terminals. The first batch of terminals included on the “white list” is already operational.
Earlier reports claimed that on the evening of 4 February, Starlink satellite communications partially stopped working on both sides of the front line.
Ukraine’s Minister of Defence, Mykhailo Fedorov, has called on commanders of the Defence Forces at all levels to organise the verification of Starlink terminals, stressing the need to submit terminal numbers via the DELTA system for inclusion in the “white list”.
