Ukraine recaptured 201 square kilometres (78 square miles) from Russia between Wednesday and Sunday last week, taking advantage of a Starlink shutdown for Russian forces, according to an AFP analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
The recaptured area is almost equivalent to the Russian gains for the entire month of December and is the most land retaken by Kyiv’s forces in such a short period since a June 2023 counter-offensive.
Starlink doesn’t work in Russia or in Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine. It does, however, work near the front lines - exactly where Ukrainians need it most. That’s why Russia has been able to use those terminals there, as well as on drones flying behind Ukrainian lines.
What changed now is that it got disabled across all of Ukraine - but Ukrainians are whitelisted and can register their terminals to get them working again. Russians can’t. They also disabled Starlink for anything moving faster than 70 km/h, since Shahed drones can’t fly that slow.
You’re probably refering to this incident: Did Elon Musk Turn Off Starlink Access in Crimea To Disrupt Ukrainian Attack?
No, he didn’t turn it off - it was never enabled in the first place so that Russians can’t use it.