Military analyst Vladislav Shurygin pointed to one of the key problems for Russia on the Ukrainian front, naming the involvement of American businessman Elon Musk and the Starlink satellite system.

In his assessment, Starlink was initially presented as a civilian communications network, but has now become the basis of combat operations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He claims that the system is used for command and control, communications, and drone operations. Shurygin also states that Musk has entered into direct cooperation with the Ukrainian side, creating so-called «whitelists» of terminals and lifting restrictions on their use over Russian territory, which, according to him, allows Ukrainian drones to operate deep inside Russia.

He argues that such terminals can function across the entire territory of Russia, supporting military tasks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The expert raises the question of how Russia should respond and notes that the development of its own communication systems is not, in his view, an adequate response. He believes that countermeasures should be more forceful, as each crossed «red line» only expands the opponent’s capabilities.

Among possible responses, he lists technical means of targeting satellite infrastructure, including high-energy ground-based systems, electronic warfare tools, signal suppression systems, and cyber operations. According to him, the issue is not the availability of such tools, but political will.

He also claims that the informal ban on destroying Western satellites exists only until similar actions are taken against Russian systems, and considers this approach mistaken. In his view, Russia should escalate first without regard to Western reaction.