Ukrainian Armed Forces' Starlink devices fail during Russian offensive in Kharkiv region - WP

Archive photo: Starlink devices failed during Russian offensive in Kharkiv region (Getty Images)

On the first day of the recent Russian offensive in the Kharkiv region, Starlink terminals used by Ukrainian soldiers failed, according to The Washington Post.

Washington Post reports that Ukraine’s 125th Territorial Defense Brigade which stretches along a 43-kilometer stretch of the Kharkiv region's border with Russia, used reconnaissance drones to monitor daily how Russia is steadily building up its forces for a possible attack.

"But the morning it happened, May 10, the brigade lost all its video feeds due to Russian electronic jamming," WP notes.

It is noted that the Starlink terminals failed. The commander of the drone unit in the brigade told reporters that at a certain point, they were left completely blind.

“This was the biggest problem, we didn’t see how they were moving, we only worked through radio or through phones where they still worked,” the soldier said.

Starlink terminals have already been disabled during the war

Last year, CNN wrote that American billionaire Elon Musk secretly forced engineers to shut down the Starlink satellite network to prevent Ukraine from attacking the Russian navy.

Later, Senator Elizabeth Warren said that the US Congress should investigate SpaceX after Elon Musk admitted that he had blocked Ukraine's access to the Starlink satellite network during the attack on Russian military ships near the coast of Crimea.