Russia's EW starts jamming Musk's Starlink Signal in Lugansk: Expert

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
31 Jul 2023 13:40

This comes as Ukraine launched its counteroffensive earlier last month, and they've already failed at advancing into South Donetsk, Bakhmut, and Zaporozhye.

Starlink satellite. Credit GDA via AP

Sputnik reported on Monday, citing Andrei Marochko, a retired army officer of the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR) and a military expert, that Russian electronic warfare began to disrupt the Starlink satellite internet signal in the Lugansk direction.

"An analysis of transmissions between Ukrainian militants at the line of contact has shown that they experience difficulties with internet access via Starlink satellites. Many believe it is due to Russian armed forces having started to jam the signal provided by SpaceX company," Marochko said.

This comes as Ukraine launched its counteroffensive earlier last month, and they've already failed at advancing into South Donetsk, Bakhmut, and Zaporozhye.

Russian forces' jamming of the Starlink internet in the Lugansk region presents a problem for Ukrainian soldiers because they largely rely on connectivity for coordination and communication. The continuing violence in the area may be significantly impacted by this.

In March 2022, right after the start of the war in Ukraine, US billionaire and SpaceX chief Elon Musk announced that he will be supplying Ukrainians with thousands of Starlink satellites in order to help the Eastern European country maintain internet connections during the conflict.

Starlink was later weaponized and proved to be a very successful tool in the Ukraine war, observers say, arguing that its lower-orbit position allows it to easily update the satellites and use them for space operations.

In April this year, the Pentagon said it was engaging in negotiations with Starlink whose owner, Elon Musk, said he was considering ending the free supply of terminals to Ukraine due to the difficulty of maintaining it without financial assistance from the government.

Musk later retracted his decision and chose to continue funding the service.

Earlier this month, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson told Sputnik that a Ukrainian Starlink satellite communication station and a drone control center near Bakhmut have been destroyed by Russian forces.

"... the artillery of the group [of Russian forces] destroyed a Starlink communication station, a control center for unmanned aerial vehicles together with a Leleka-100 drone, a communication center, and a pickup truck with an infantry group," the spokesperson said.