Russia tries to block Musk's Starlink to counter Ukrainian drones

Ukrainian commanders say their continued offensive has forced Russia to use slower and less efficient resupply routes. The drones would have made sections of the land corridor linking Russia and Crimea too dangerous, slowing the transport of fuel, ammunition and reinforcements. Russia's response came with the Volna Kupol Garant jamming system, which emits a signal strong enough to destabilize the Starlink connection in an area of ??about 20 km², Serhii Beskrestnov, adviser to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, told Reuters. This is a significant development in the conflict, as Starlink was previously considered largely immune to interference. A Zozulia medium-range attack drone flies after being launched by the Ukrainian military from the Sparta company at an undisclosed location in southern Ukraine. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko Turn in the war with the help of Starlink The turn in Ukraine's favor in the war came earlier this year, when SpaceX cut off Russian forces' unauthorized access to Starlink, disrupting Russian drone operations and communications. This gave Ukraine an advantage, allowing improved drones to avoid detection, resist interference and carry out strikes with more precision, while Russia rushed to adapt. "The blocking of Starlink by Russian forces was one of the most significant developments on the battlefield this year," Rob Lee, senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute's Eurasia Program, told the Associated Press news agency. The success of Ukrainian medium-range attacks is a consequence of this change. "What has changed is that now eight out of 10 missions are successful," Pharaon said. Just a few months ago, the success rate was the opposite, he said. Soldiers from the Sparta company, of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, prepare a medium-range attack drone Zozulia REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko Russia's reaction Russian forces were caught by surprise when the Ukrainian campaign intensified three months ago. But they began mobilizing mobile anti-aircraft units and resorting to other tactics to intercept the drones, Ukrainian drone commanders and pilots told Reuters. One of them is precisely the use of sophisticated electronic interference devices to block the connections used to fly drones, some of them capable of interrupting Starlink systems – the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense claims to have detected ten of them. Some of these jamming devices were installed by Russia near cities and military installations, the Ukrainian military said. Equipment of this type is targeted by Ukrainian soldiers for obvious reasons. Video of a Ukrainian attack on one of these systems shows a large explosion after a drone hits a location containing six large trailer-sized boxes. "As soon as we reached this facility, our Starlink-equipped drones flew without any problems," said a commander of Ukraine's 422nd Unmanned Systems Regiment operating in the southern region of Zaporizhia. Other tactics Russia resorts to to keep the front lines supplied include hiding fuel and other military supplies in civilian vehicles, such as trucks that are supposed to be transporting water or milk. The logistical operation would also involve small civilian cars, quadricycles and motorcycles. Additionally, Russian troops are said to be using camouflaged shelters, abandoned buildings and agricultural structures to hide supplies, as well as civilian gas stations to store military fuel. They would also have started escorting convoys of fuel trucks with pickup trucks armed with machine guns and using secondary roads.