Disconnection of Starlinks to ruscists: number of assaults and intensity of fire have decreased

Author: Violetta Kirtoka

"I was driving along the road to Pavlohrad and saw four burned-out cars near Petropavlivka. These are either Russian ’Molniya’ missiles carried by a drone mother ship, or enemy FPVs striking from a greater distance," my military correspondent adds to these words, as he drives past another burned-out car.

"Yes, yes," confirms another unit commander, "there's a burnt-out tanker truck on that road."

Similar reports of the expansion of "Russian roulette" come from another section of the same road connecting Pavlohrad, Dobropillia, and Sloviansk. The enemy is striking not only our logistics routes but all roads, trying to reach as far as possible. It is clear that all our roads are logistical. And the Russians see a threat not only in the representatives of the Defence Forces, but also in miners going to work, pensioners trying to leave for a safe place, and repair and rescue teams. That is why they are attacking everyone. If, suffering from the cold and darkness, you still do not understand who the Russians are fighting, I will repeat the obvious: the task of their so-called "SMO" is to destroy Ukrainians as a nation. And our army forms a shield across the entire front line that protects us all. But the enemy is evolving and trying to strike in different ways across the country, at all the weak points. And they are succeeding. Although our forces have dealt a painful blow that is already changing the situation on the front line, more on that below.

Recently, Zaporizhzhia has been suffering more and more — a city where people live, shops operate, children study, and various events are held, including theatre tours. But the Russians would very much like to capture it. That is why, in fact, active operations and assaults began here a month ago.

As is known, the enemy managed to enter Huliaipole and accumulate there. The same happened in Stepnohirsk, which is up to twenty kilometres from Zaporizhzhia itself. The approach of the front line will lead to the city being destroyed, as they are doing with Kherson, forcing people to leave, destroying infrastructure and preventing the formation of a line of defence. To prevent this, our assault troops in Zaporizhzhia have taken active measures to push back the enemy and stabilise the situation, preventing the front line from approaching the regional centre.

Of course, this is not easy. And the enemy outnumbers us. But they can be defeated.

Incidentally, for two months before the New Year, the figures for daily enemy losses were not generally made public. There is a view that this is due to the fact that it was not possible to kill as many Russians on our land as much as we would have liked, as many as were killed before. For various reasons, these statistics have fallen significantly. However, in January, this tradition was resumed, and we see that every day the enemy loses 1,200-1,500 personnel. That's three battalions! And there has been more talk about the need to increase this figure. Because the Russians' ability to continue storming our positions and advancing depends on it. We can only stop them by inflicting significant losses on their personnel on the front line, destroying their warehouses and equipment a little further away, and preventing the delivery of necessary supplies...

Perhaps the "offensive operations" announced by Syrskyi in an interview with "UP" have begun in Zaporizhzhia region. But when he starts something like this, things don't get better...

Over the years of full-scale offensive, one pattern can be traced: as soon as there is talk of removing Syrskyi, he immediately launches an offensive in some direction... This was the case with the Kursk operation, which ended in nothing and brought us no relief, but only stretched the front line for hundreds of kilometres and led to the occupation of Ukrainian villages in the Sumy region... This was the case with Krynky in the Kherson region, where, as the soldiers who took part in the constant crossing to the islands say, "the Ukrainian marines are buried here." Even a civilian could understand that it was impossible to establish a bridgehead there — no equipment could be transported across the Dnipro floodplains... And it did not work... Mentions of the much-publicised counteroffensive in Zaporizhzhia region in the summer of 2023 still provoke anger in many commanders and a desire to see those responsible for the orders to drive our infantry forward along the same mined road...

Experienced officers believe that the futility of these attempts to recapture our lands lies in the senselessness of the planning of operations, in the fact that everything is done without a plan B, without the use of units that will follow and consolidate... The main thing is to start, according to the high command, but they do not provide answers as to what forces and means should be used... And those commanders who disagree, ask questions and argue are removed. Note that there are almost no charismatic, independent, authoritative officers left in the Commander-in-Chief's entourage, the kind of people whom others would follow... They have all been gradually removed — either to shuffle papers, or to the reserve, or... For some, "favourable" conditions for dismissal were created.

Recently, there have been posts on Facebook saying that the re-registration of Starlinks was poorly done, so that only those entered in the state register would remain connected, leaving the enemy without communication. I was a little concerned that our units would also be left without communication. But after calling the commanders on the front line, I heard a calm response: "There was enough time to enter all those who wanted to and were responsible into the register." At least from Izium to Zaporizhzhia, no one was left without communication. However, the fact that the enemy was left without satellite internet had a noticeable effect. This had a significant impact on many things — the number of assaults decreased due to the inability to adjust fire, and its density and intensity decreased significantly. "If all our military actions had been carried out as quietly as possible for as long as possible, the effect would have been much greater," noted one of the scouts. "The enemy would not have understood for some time what was happening to their Starlinks, why there was no connection, and would have been looking for reasons. This would have given us a little more time to inflict more losses on them. But even so, we have pushed them back to the level of early 2023. The enemy is already responding, trying to deploy, so to speak, mirror systems to transmit the internet, but this will not allow them to strike our routes, our positions or detected groups instantly."

How the Russians reacted to the loss of communication, trying to reconfigure the equipment, rebooting it, almost "knocking on the wheels," is clearly visible from the interceptions:

"— Biden, report on the situation.

— When you catch the signal 80 77, report to me immediately. The router's MAC address..."

"What's the situation?

— We have no results, nothing is working. We are rebooting, nothing is working."

"... I checked the connection.

— Yes, I can hear you perfectly, excellent. Tell me... there's no connection, we can work through you, but only the battalion is working.

— I got you, got you. Well, try to get out again, I'll listen now.

— I have two signalmen sitting here, they've listened to everything, nothing works"...

"Me and Biden, we tested the satellite, near the tower, no signal, no signal"...

For obvious reasons, we do not disclose the enemy's call signs. Only with permission do we refer to "Biden". Imagine that — an army "fighting NATO" uses the name of the American president who actively supported Ukraine. Twisted Russian logic.

The Russians themselves post photos and videos of how they now use Starlink. As a table for eating, as a board for cutting bread. We don't mind...

The fact that Starlinks work on our side and help not only to fight but also to save our soldiers is evidenced by one example that moves everyone who sees the video, filmed with the help of Starlink, to tears. In the 68th brigade, with the help of an UGV (ground robotic complex), a soldier who was wounded in both legs was evacuated. He had been in position for four days, suffered frostbite in addition to his wounds, ate snow, but waited for rescue. It was impossible for a group of soldiers to reach that location. But the robotic complex, controlled via the internet, made it there. The man loaded himself onto it and was thus rescued. Importantly, he was not hit by enemy fire or FPV during the evacuation.

Let's hope that the registration of Starlinks will lead to losses in the work of the Russian "Rubicon" unmanned systems unit, which is effectively fighting in Donbas. But, at least for now, their actions have significantly decreased. This is because pilots are forced to work with radio stations. This is both difficult and slow: by the time the code is transmitted and they take off, the situation has already changed... This news is really encouraging.

Violetta Kirtoka, Censor.NET