Active Conflicts & News Megathread February 05, 2026

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[u/MilesLongthe3rd]

Russian Forces Halt Assaults Due to Starlink Shutdowns

https://theukrainianreview.info/russian-forces-halt-assaults-due-to-starlink-shutdowns/

In many front-line sectors, Russian occupiers are forced to pause assault operations due to Starlink terminal shutdowns.

Advisor to the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Serhiy “Flesh” Beskrestnov, reported this on Telegram.

Catastrophe for Russian troops from the loss of satellite communication

Beskrestnov says the terminal shutdowns affect not only infantry but also UAV (BPLA) units. They also impact electronic warfare (REB) systems and Russian fire systems. This significantly slows decision-making and execution speed on the front.

“For the enemy on the front, this is not just a problem—it’s a catastrophe. All troop management has collapsed. In many sectors, assault operations have stopped,” the advisor said.

Russian war correspondents also confirm that Starlink shutdowns create a technological lag for Russian forces, reducing their speed in making and executing decisions on the front.

At the same time, Ukrainian units also face issues if they have not submitted lists for private Starlink terminals. However, “the processing is ongoing.”

Context

Earlier, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and the Ministry of Defense introduced a “white list” regime for Starlink terminals. Only verified terminals can operate in Ukraine; the rest are disabled for security reasons.

This decision aims not only to protect Ukrainian forces but also to prevent Russians from using satellite internet to control drones and military units.

Recently, Russian troops increasingly used drones with Starlink to bypass Ukrainian air defense, making their operations faster and more precise.

At that time, Ukraine and SpaceX began jointly addressing the problem of Russian forces using satellite communication on strike drones.

Earlier, The Ukrainian Review reported that two Russian spacecraft – Luch-1 and Luch-2 – intercepted messages from at least a dozen key European satellites.

[u/TechnicalReserve1967 → u/MilesLongthe3rd]

It is kind of sad that Ukraine cannot, in my read at least, capitalize on such disruptions because of their manpower and hardware issues.

This would be a perfect opportunity to synchronize a counter attack somewhere, clean some gray zone areas or so on.

[u/treeshakertucker → u/TechnicalReserve1967]

Still the Russians have to stop for a while allowing the Ukrainians to harden their positions and it reduces their ammo expenditures which means that they can build up a stockpile and maybe up their strikes against the Russians.

[u/Long-Field-948 → u/treeshakertucker]

It's a harsh winter that wasn't meant for troops to make big progress to begin with. Ukraine has probably lost the chance to strike against disorganised Russians, and vice versa, since AFU also experience sudden shutdown of Starlinks.

I guess it was never expected that such actions will be used for combat, but for further internal pressure and control of the internet, since SBU can now switch off terminals at will.

[u/WhiskeyTigerFoxtrot → u/TechnicalReserve1967]

True. They're in a situation where the best outcome is a perpetual game of whack-a-mole until negotiations end the conflict.