Russian forces are trying to counter Ukrainian “mid-strike” drone attacks by camouflaging cargoes and installing powerful jamming systems to disrupt Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet system, Ukrainian drone commanders and pilots told Reuters.
Kyiv’s development of “mid-strike” drones that can hit targets dozens of kilometres behind front lines accurately and cheaply, and are often flown via Starlink, has transformed the war in Ukraine.
In a concerted mid-strike campaign this year, Ukraine has attacked supply lines, fuel storage facilities, air-defence installations and command centres, disrupting Russian forces’ logistics and causing fuel shortages in Russian-occupied Crimea.
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But Russia is now developing many ways to try to counter the mid-range strikes, four drone commanders and pilots told a Reuters crew that visited Ukraine’s 422nd Unmanned Systems Regiment at work in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.
Russia’s methods to protect fuel and other military supplies range from hiding shipments in civilian vehicles to using sophisticated electronic jamming devices to block connections used to pilot the drones, they said.
Jamming devices have been installed by Russia near towns and military facilities, including some that can disrupt the Starlink systems operated by Mr Musk’s SpaceX, they said.
Most of Ukraine’s mid-strike missions are flown using Starlink, which allows a pilot to remotely communicate with a drone and had been considered largely immune to jamming.
Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to Ukraine’s defence ministry, said Russia was deploying a jamming system called the Volna Kupol Garant that emits a signal strong enough to destabilise the Starlink connection in an area of about 20sq km.
He added that about 10 had been detected so far.
However, the system is itself a prominent target for Ukrainian drone crews keen to knock out any impediment to their flighTS.
The 422nd regiment has taken part in operations to hit two of these systems, including one that was struck several hours after being detected in a joint mission with the SBU security service, regiment commander Mykola Kolesnyk, said.
A video of one attack showed a large explosion as a drone struck a site containing six large boxes resembling trailers.
“As soon as we struck that installation, our Starlink-equipped [drones] flew without problems,” said a crew commander who uses the call sign ‘Dyryhent’.
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Mr Musk has meanwhile cut Russian forces off from using Starlink to stop Moscow using it in its own drone strikes.
SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment for this story, nor did Russia’s defence ministry.
