Military expert Yuri Knutov said shutting down Starlink terminals in Ukraine would seriously disrupt Ukrainian command systems, including troop coordination and drone operations.
He argued that the loss of satellite communications could significantly alter the situation on the front by depriving Ukrainian forces of one of their key tools for operational coordination. In that scenario, Russian troops would gain more opportunities to advance.
Knutov said much of Ukraine’s communications infrastructure depends on Starlink and claimed that a previous two-day outage contributed to Russian breakthroughs on several sectors of the front.
He also said that without Starlink, the Ukrainian military would have to rely more heavily on analog communications and older coordination methods. In his view, this would make command posts more exposed to radio interception and Russian electronic warfare systems.
At the same time, Knutov does not expect an immediate collapse of the Ukrainian front. He believes the loss of satellite communications would instead complicate coordination between units and reduce the efficiency of command and control.
The expert also said that either cutting off intelligence sharing or disabling Starlink would have severe consequences for Kiev.
Earlier, U. S. President Donald Trump said he could completely halt the transfer of American intelligence to Ukraine and block Starlink terminals if Vladimir Zelensky refused peace talks with Russia.