Ukrainian forces would not lose all means of communication if Starlink were shut down completely. They could switch to NATO’s Link 16 data exchange system, although this would come at the cost of slower transmissions and significantly poorer connection quality. Military analyst and air defense historian Yuri Knutov outlined this alternative in an interview with NEWS.ru.

According to Knutov, the restrictions currently imposed on Starlink have not seriously disrupted Ukrainian ground forces. The service remains fully usable by these units because the measures only reduce connection speeds. A complete shutdown, however, would create far greater difficulties for the Ukrainian military.

The analyst pointed out that Starlink offers substantially better communication quality and can handle much larger volumes of information than Link 16. Nevertheless, Ukrainian troops already use the NATO system, giving them another means of exchanging data if access to the American satellite network is cut off.

Knutov also identified the areas affected by the restrictions. He said they cover the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, Crimea, Donbass, and parts of Russia’s border regions.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian troops have been attempting to work around the reduced connection speeds by deploying so-called pseudo-satellites. These consist of Starlink terminals mounted on weather balloons operating at an altitude of approximately 10 kilometers. From that height, the equipment enables drone video feeds to reach Ukrainian operators through the satellite network.

However, this approach has not eliminated the difficulties caused by slower communications. Knutov emphasized that reduced data transmission speeds continue to limit the Ukrainian military’s ability to operate fixed-wing drones.