Ukraine has blocked Russia's use of Starlink - a move that will significantly impair Moscow's ability to operate unmanned ground vehicles and certain types of strike drones. That is the assessment of American analyst Michael Kofman in a Foreign Affairs article dated February 16, 2026.
As "Hvylya" reports, Kofman cites the move as an example of how apparently minor changes can produce cascading effects on the battlefield.
"Ukraine recently denied Russia access to Starlink, which will significantly affect its ability to operate unmanned ground vehicles and some types of strike drones - or, most importantly, will force a reorganization of Russian command and control at the tactical level," he writes.
Kofman cautions that wartime forecasting relies too heavily on extrapolating from previous phases - when incremental shifts can suddenly become decisive. The Starlink block, he argues, is precisely that kind of hidden inflection point, with direct consequences for how both sides operate drones on the battlefield.
More broadly, Kofman notes that 2025 was defined by a fierce contest for dominance in the "kill zone" - a band roughly 10 to 12 miles deep from the front line, saturated with reconnaissance and strike drones. Any change in command capabilities - including the loss of Starlink - directly shifts the balance of power in that zone. Ukraine is responding with new interceptor drones and laser systems designed to exploit exactly these gaps.