cypher

Opportunistic Ukrainian Counterattacks Grab Ground After Musk Starlink Shutdown

Russia’s 800,000-man army invading Ukraine lost its main means of exchanging digital data in mid-February and now Kyiv’s forces are taking advantage of it.

Ukrainian infantry teams taking advantage of a recent crash in Starlink communications service to Russian units have launched opportunistic assaults in three sectors of the Russo-Ukrainian War’s 1,100-kilometer (684-mile) front, putting Russian forces to flight and capturing a reported 11 villages, according to Ukrainian field and official reports made public on Monday.

Ukrainian assault infantry, armored transport and drone units operating in combined arms attack teams scored their biggest gains in assaults over the weekend in the Zaporizhzhia sector, liberating 5 villages across a 30-kilometer (19-mile) front near the city of Hulyaipole.

The attacks forced Russian units in the area to retreat across the tactically important Haichur River, and re-established Ukrainian control in territory held by Russian forces since late summer.

Ukrainian news reports and even some unit information feeds reported veteran Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) combat formations concentrated in the sector in early February to carry out the attacks against a line of Zaporizhzhia villages between the frontline cities of Hulyaipole and Pokrovsk. By Saturday, even Ukrainian mainstream news was reporting the AFU’s elite 82nd and 95th Air Assault Brigades, along with the veteran 33rd and 475th Assault Infantry Regiments, were leading the attacks.

The 225th Regiment confirmed on Sunday it was in combat in the Hulyaipole sector, reporting on the unit Telegram channel its assault squads had cleared Russian forces out of fortifications around two villages late last week, and claiming 40 Russian troops were killed by 225 fighters in one day of combat near Hulyaipole. Kyiv Post could not confirm that claim independently.

Russian military news platforms additionally reported the AFU’s elite 210th and 225th Assault Regiments participated in the assaults along with the 24th Assault Regiment “Aidar.”

Ukrainian assault groups using, among other equipment, US-made M1A1 Abrams tanks and Swedish CV-90 infantry assault vehicles were able to “quickly clear” Russian troops from the five settlements, Euromaidan reported.

Both Russian and Ukrainian sources confirmed that the US company SpaceX’s move to disable black and gray market Starlink communications terminals in Russia and Ukraine substantially aided the AFU attacks. The denial of Starlink service left Russian units in the Ukrainian attack zone largely unable to exchange digital data and reliant on easily jammed VHF radio for combat intelligence and orders.

Villages confirmed recaptured by Ukrainian forces by Monday, per Ukrainian battle reports on fighting around Hulyaipole, included the settlements Vidradne, Verbove, Prydorozhnie and Ternuvate. Russian milbloggers reported fighting still was in progress around the village of Verbove.

Similar but smaller Ukrainian advances were reported elsewhere on the front as well, including near a village called Mahdalynivka near the Zaporizhzhia-Vasylivka highway, was confirmed by drone video published by 33rd Assault Regiment. AFU ground gains also were reported in the Kharkiv sector near the town Sviatohirsk, and in the Donetsk sector near the city Chasiv Yar.

Independent analysts said the Ukrainian terrain gains in some five days of fighting – effectively reversing Russian advances in that sector managed over the three to four months at the price of heavy losses – were a clear victory for Kyiv’s forces.

Konrad Muzyka, Director of the Rochan Consulting security research group, said that the Ukrainian advances, though local, were significant, and that the Ukrainian objective was strengthening defensive positions.

“Recent Ukrainian counterattacks along the Hulyaipole axis confirm that Russian force density in certain sectors – including operationally significant ones – remains relatively low, enabling well-coordinated Ukrainian assaults to achieve rapid, localized territorial gains,” Muzyka said in a Feb. 14 analysis published on X.

“What we are witnessing now is a clear Ukrainian tactical success and a notable Russian setback. Russian forces were unable to translate their earlier operational achievement – crossing the Haichur River into a durable foothold. Equally significant was their apparent failure to anticipate and absorb the Ukrainian counterstroke, which reversed more than a month of Russian advances in the area,” Muzyka said.

The Kyiv Post

Flamingo missile proves low-altitude capability in repeat Russian strike

February 12, 2026, 02:30 PM

Ukraine’s Defense Forces confirmed a second successful use of the domestically developed FP-5 Flamingo missile, striking a major Russian GRAU (Main Rocket and Artillery Directorate) arsenal near Kotluban in Volgograd Oblast, suggesting the weapon’s ability to evade Russian air defenses and electronic warfare, Defense Express reported on Feb. 12.

This marks the second confirmed use of the Ukrainian missile, following January strikes on the Kapustin Yar test range — the site Russia uses to launch Oreshnik missiles.

Defense Express analysts believe the Ukrainian cruise missile demonstrates an effective ability to penetrate air defense and electronic warfare systems, as both targeted sites were expected to be heavily protected.

Kapustin Yar and the GRAU arsenal are located in the same Russian region, approximately 120 kilometers apart. This means that after the previous Flamingo strike, Russian forces were unable to significantly strengthen air defenses across Volgograd Oblast, the publication notes.

The successful use of the FP-5 may point to a significant upgrade of the missile, most likely the integration of a TERCOM (Terrain Contour Matching) system that enables flight at very low altitudes. TERCOM works by using a radio altimeter or specialized radar to read the terrain beneath the missile and compare it to a pre-loaded reference “map.”

The lower a cruise missile flies, the more effectively it evades air defense systems and radar detection. At the same time, the primary role of TERCOM is to provide a satellite-independent navigation system, greatly increasing the missile’s resistance to electronic warfare jamming, the experts add.

NV

at least we still have the KI...

Kyiv bureau among those axed by Jeff Bezos' Washington Post, hundreds of journalists laid off

February 4, 2026 9:05 pm

The Washington Post, which has been owned by American oligarch Jeff Bezos since 2013, has shuttered its Kyiv bureau amid the harshest winter since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, multiple staffers reported Feb. 4.

The local staff are expected to continue "in some capacity," according to a person familiar with the matter.

A number of other international desks were also axed in what one bureau chief called a move with "hard-to-understand logic."

"I was just laid off by The Washington Post in the middle of a warzone. I have no words. I'm devastated," Ukraine correspondent Lizzie Johnson wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Ukraine bureau chief Siobhán O’Grady called the job "the honor of my life" as she mourned the decision.

The layoffs hit more than 300 journalists. Executive editor Matt Murray told staff that The Washington Post would narrow its focus to national politics, business, and health, according to the New York Times.

The Kyiv Independent