The success of the Ukrainian armed forces in the Zaporizhia region is due to the fact that Russian troops have lost the ability to use Starlink terminals, a senior NATO official told the BBC.
Earlier, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense reached an agreement with the American company SpaceX to deactivate Starlink satellite communication terminals that are not on the white list in Ukraine. This was done to prevent the use of such terminals by the Russian military, which had acquired them on the black market.
Russia used these terminals to provide communications on the front line, but there were also more exotic applications - Starlink was even installed on long-range drones attacking targets deep inside Ukraine.
"The termination of this link has put the Russians in a difficult position at the moment in terms of command and control, and it certainly means that they will have to use more visible and traditional means of commanding these units," a NATO spokesman said.
"Whatever alternatives the Russians come up with, they are probably not going to be as effective. So I think we will definitely see that on the battlefield. And I will say this: part of the success that Ukraine has recently achieved in Zaporizhia is probably due to Russia's changing access to Starlink," he added.