Russia is trying to knock Ukraine's most effective new weapons offline by going after the internet that sets them in flight. Ukrainian drone commanders and pilots say Moscow is rolling out strong jamming systems aimed at disrupting Starlink, the SpaceX satellite network that guides many of Kyiv's long-range "midstrike" drones deep behind the front lines, reports Reuters from the Zaporizhzhia region. Those drones have been hammering fuel depots, supply routes, air defenses, and command posts, especially in and around occupied Crimea. To blunt the damage, Russian forces are reportedly hiding fuel in painted-over "milk trucks," in civilian cars, and even at gas stations, with convoys shifted onto back roads and fuel sheltered in camouflaged storage sites.
According to a Ukrainian defense adviser, the centerpiece of the counteroffensive is a jammer known as the Volna Kupol Garant, which can reportedly disrupt Starlink over about 7.7 square miles. The jamming system "literally blinds [Starlink satellites] with parasitic signals," an aviation expert told Russia's Tass news agency, per France 24. "It's like someone is screaming directly into your ear with some random loud ... noise." The jamming system is said to be both expensive and easy to track down: "Because jamming Starlink requires massive power output, the system emits a strong electronic signature," making it an easy target, per Euromaidan Press.
Ukraine's 422nd Unmanned Systems Regiment says it has already hit two such systems, per Reuters; there are at least 10 that have been found so far, the Ukrainian defense adviser notes. After one strike, a commander said, Starlink-enabled drones resumed flying "without problems." SpaceX and Russia's Defense Ministry didn't comment, and Reuters couldn't independently confirm Russia's full range of tactics.
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