A Ukrainian offensive earlier this year retook approximately 400 square kilometers of territory following the deactivation of thousands of Starlink terminals that Russian forces had been using illicitly, according to a Pentagon Inspector General report citing the US Defense Intelligence Agency and US European Command.
The advance marked Ukraine's first territorial gains since 2023, the report said.
Russian forces had acquired the SpaceX-built terminals — not officially available for Russian military use — and were deploying them "to coordinate movements and unmanned aircraft strikes in areas where communications were unreliable or easily jammed," according to the DIA. The agency concluded that "Russian military capabilities in Ukraine were temporarily yet significantly degraded" after Ukrainian officials moved in February to deactivate the devices.
Serhiy Beskrestnov, an adviser to Ukraine's defense minister, described the impact at the time: "not a problem the enemy faces, but a disaster — troop command has collapsed and assault operations have halted in many areas."
The degradation was compounded by a separate blow to Russian battlefield communications: a Kremlin crackdown on the Telegram messaging app, which front-line troops had been using to communicate.
Starlink in Russian army
Reports of Russian troops acquiring Starlink dishes began emerging in 2024. After Ukraine notified SpaceX that some devices had aided Russian drones used to attack Ukraine, the company published instructions in February for formally registering terminals for continued use. Elon Musk shared the instructions on X, directing Starlink customers in Ukraine to comply.
SpaceX's cooperation with US authorities predates the February deactivations. Amanda Dory, then acting undersecretary of defense for policy, wrote to Senator Elizabeth Warren in June 2024 that SpaceX "has been forward-leaning in providing information to support investigations and denying service" since Russia's use of the terminals "became known several months ago." In August 2024, SpaceX received a Pentagon contract to expand Ukraine's access to a more secure, militarized version of Starlink.
Despite the territorial advance, the DIA assessed that "as of March, the Russian military maintained an overall advantage over" Ukraine's armed forces "across most warfighting functions."
Separately, Ukraine announced a security buildup in the country's north on Thursday to deter a potential Russian push toward Kyiv through Belarus. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that Russia is considering a new northern offensive that could mirror its failed attempt to seize the capital in the early weeks of the full-scale invasion.
