Ukrainian troops have problems with Starlink as it affects the drone war with Russia

Ukrainian front-line troops say they are experiencing connection problems with the vital Starlink internet service, according to CNN.
Ukraine’s self-detonating drones have been a cheap and effective weapon in the war to gather intelligence and destroy Russia’s expensive military equipment.
In recent weeks, Ukraine’s drones have attacked Russian oil facilities and hunted down Russian ships in open sea and at naval bases.
Ukraine’s self-detonating drones are a staple to its arsenal. But in a series of interviews across the front lines, Ukrainian soldiers have said connection speeds have dropped in the past months, and reported other connection problems. The complaints coincide with a rise in Ukrainian sightings of Russian uses of the satellite internet service, run by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, and social media posts in which Russian crowdfunders claim to have successfully bypassed sanctions on Russian use of the devices, buying them in third countries.
One communications operator in the Zaporizhzhia area, who asked to be named Misha, told CNN the issues had begun in the past three weeks. “We started noticing a bad quality connection,” he said.
“It breaks up all the time, it needs to be rebooted for it to start working properly. But soon the speed starts to decrease and the connection breaks up again. It brings rather unpleasant complications” for their work, he added.
Another drone operator, a commander of one of the dozens of units flying single-use attack drones at Russian targets, also in the Zaporizhzhia area, said his unit’s issues had begun in January.
Multiple Ukrainian units across the front lines told CNN they had experienced speed problems with Starlink, and noted Russian use, but declined to be named discussing a sensitive issue. When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia destroyed the military’s traditional Internet service. Kyiv reached out to Musk and asked for emergency Starlink shipments. Their impact on the battlefield was almost immediate. Ukrainian military regained access to the Internet – and were able to coordinate their defense and counterattack.