Their Starlink Terminals Bricked, Russian Vehicles Are Getting Lost—And Getting Blown Up

Russian disarray is an opportunity for the Ukrainians

At the behest of the Ukrainian defense ministry early this month, billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink bricked Russia’s thousands of smuggled and stolen satellite terminals.

Along with new Kremlin restrictions on social media apps that many Russian troops used to swap information along the front line, the Starlink bricking threw Russian communications into disarray.

For the Ukrainians, it was an opportunity to go on the offensive. Especially in the southeast, where their defenses were weakest—and most badly in need of shoring up. Two weeks, later, the Ukrainians are still advancing.

Now the Estonian defense ministry has put into stark terms what the abrupt Starlink cutoff did to the Russians. “Russian command, fire orders and unit coordination have been disrupted, supporting Ukrainian counterattacks,” Col. Ants Kiviselg, director of the Estonian Defense Forces Military Intelligence Center, told reporters.

“We can’t say the Russian chain of command has collapsed,” Kiviselg added, “but it certainly has been impacted by these events.”

Small units of Russian infantry cowering in the wide gray zone between Russian and Ukrainian lines found themselves truly alone and unsupported. Many drones couldn’t fly. Russian headquarters lost sight of the battlefield—and lost track of assault groups.