Kyiv [Ukraine], May 25: Ukrainian soldiers said Russia was able to disrupt the Starlink satellite system that has been in use for more than 2 years, causing network speeds to be very slow.
Since the outbreak of the conflict, the Ukrainian military has used SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service to communicate, coordinate attacks and gather intelligence. However, The New York Times on May 24 quoted Ukrainian soldiers as saying that Russia had found a way to intervene and disrupt this network.
Members of Ukraine's 92nd Assault Brigade said the Starlink network has been very slow since early May, when Russia began stepping up its attack on the country's northern border region.
"The network went down the day before the attacks and it was very slow," said a soldier with the code name Ajax. "We are losing on the electronic warfare front," he said.
Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov recently informed that Russia is testing new and sophisticated tools to disrupt the connection quality of Starlink , which is very important to Ukraine. He added Kyiv is working with SpaceX to remedy the situation.
Previously, Business Insider quoted Mr. Brian Weeden, Program Director of Secure World Foundation, a non-profit space cooperation organization based in the US, as saying that Russia had encountered difficulties when interfering with the Starlink system. of Ukraine. This is because these satellites operate at a lower altitude than geostationary satellites, so the signal will be stronger and more focused. Low-activity Starlink satellites will help reduce latency, which is the network response time after a user performs an operation.
The New York Times reported that Russia could have intervened more effectively with modern jamming devices. Although the Russian Ministry of Defense has not commented, a Moscow electronic warfare official said in April that the military had developed capabilities to counter Starlink.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper