Starlink Internet terminals used by the Russian army on the battlefield in Ukraine have been disabled. Kiev announced this, reports "Reuters".
A Ukrainian official described the situation as a "disaster" for Moscow, which has disrupted its assault operations in many areas.
Ukrainian officials said Russia has used thousands of Starlink terminals on the battlefield - something that military analysts say makes their communications mobile and difficult to disrupt.
Last week, Ukraine indicated that it was working with Elon Musk's SpaceX to block the use of Starlink terminals in Russian combat drones and was trying to compile a "white list" on all Ukrainian terminals so that the Russian ones can be disabled.
"Starlink included in the "whitelist" is working — the Russian terminals are already blocked," said Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov, who took office last month. He said the verification process is ongoing.
On Sunday, Musk said that SpaceX's actions to stop Russia's unauthorized use of Starlink appear to have worked.
Sergiy Beskrestnov, an adviser to Fedorov, reported that the impact of the deactivation was already significant.
"For the enemy, this is not even a problem at the front, this is a disaster," he stressed. "The entire command of the troops has collapsed. Assault operations have been halted in many areas.
The Ukrainian military relies on tens of thousands of Starlink satellite internet connections for battlefield communications and to pilot some drone missions.
This week, the company said it had discovered Starlink terminals on long-range drones used in Russian attacks.
A Ukrainian military source on the eastern front said Russian troops were experiencing significant communication problems, with almost all Starlink connections down.