Kiev, Ukraine – On January 27, a heavy Russian Geran drone crashed into a fast-moving train in northern Ukraine, killing five people, injuring two, and causing a fire that destroyed the train carriage.

Such an attack would have been impossible back in 2022, when Russia began sending Roaring Shahed swarms, the Iranian prototype of the Geran-2.

Ukrainian soldiers mocked them for their slow speed and inefficiency and shot them down with assault rifles and machine guns.

But the Jelan kamikaze drones have gone through countless modifications, becoming faster and more deadly — and some equipped with Starlink Satellite internet terminal.

These terminals make them immune to Ukrainian interference and even allow Russian operators to navigate their movements in real time.

Western sanctions ban imports to Russia of laptop-sized terminals operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company.

But according to Russian war correspondents and media reports, Moscow allegedly smuggled thousands of satellites through former Soviet republics and the Middle East, particularly Dubai, using forged documents and activating them in countries where Starlink was legal to use.

Russian forces are able to use Starlink against Ukrainian forces because terminals connected to SpaceX’s fleet of satellites orbiting the Earth enable faster communications and data exchange and greater accuracy.

In early February, SpaceX banned the use of all Starlink satellites located in Ukraine, including those used by the Ukrainian military.

They can only come back online once verified and included in a “whitelist” that is updated every 24 hours.

But if movement speed exceeds 90 km/h (56 mph), any terminal will be closed to prevent drone attacks.

On February 1, Musk wrote on X: “It appears that the measures we have taken to prevent Russia from unauthorized use of Starlink have worked.”

The move is attributed to Ukraine’s new Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, 35, who previously served as Minister of Digital Transformation. He introduced dozens of innovations that streamlined bureaucracy and operations, according to one four-star general.

Lieutenant General Ihor Romanenko, former deputy commander of Ukraine’s armed forces, told Al Jazeera: “Fedorov managed to resolve the issue with Musk — somehow, because we couldn’t have done it earlier.”

He said the blockade had “significantly reduced” the effectiveness of Russian drone strikes and disrupted communications among small groups of Russian soldiers trying to infiltrate Ukrainian positions.

Andrei Pronin, one of Ukraine’s pioneers in the use of military drones, said the impact was so devastating that Russian troops “howled” in despair.

“They are like blind kittens now,” he told Al Jazeera.

Russian servicemen in places such as the disputed eastern town of Kupyansk are now “deprived of any means of contact with the mainland,” one of them said complain February 4 on Telegram.

Other service members and war correspondents decried the shortsightedness of Russian generals in building communications systems around Starlink and failing to create alternatives based on Russian technology and equipment.

However, the shutdown affected Ukrainian users of Starlink, which were not supplied to the Department of Defense but were procured by civilians and charities.

“Communications were interrupted for two days until we figured out the whitelist procedure,” Kyrilo, a soldier in the northern region of Kharkiv, told Al Jazeera. In accordance with wartime protocol, he withheld his last name.

However, this impact is short-term and unlikely to reverse the conflict heading into the new year.

“It’s not a panacea, we’re not winning the war,” Pronin said. “It will be difficult (for the Russians), but they will restore communications.”

“It will take a few weeks for them to switch to older” communications equipment such as radio, Wi-Fi, fiber optics or mobile phone internet, Romanenko said.