russia had planned a major campaign in 2026 involving unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), but those plans fell through after SpaceX, at Kyiv's request, blocked russian access to Starlink satellite communications earlier this year. This was reported by Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov, an advisor to Ukraine's Ministry of Defense on technological issues.
According to him, russia quickly began trying to replicate Ukrainian USVs after observing their effectiveness in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. By last summer, russia had already developed working prototypes, and in August it carried out a successful attack on the Simferopol vessel in the Danube Delta. In addition, there were other russian USV attacks on targets along the Ukrainian coast.
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"2026 was expected to be the year russia began widespread use of USVs, but those plans were derailed by the Starlink shutdown in early 2026," the Defense Minister's advisor reported.
According to Beskrestnov, russians have never managed to equip their USVs with their own communication systems. "Flash" listed the various communication systems russians have tried to use, but due to technical limitations, all of them either failed to work or proved too unreliable and impractical.
It eventually turned out that Starlink terminals are the only viable communication channel for USVs off the Ukrainian coast. However, now russians no longer have access to this technology.
"Of course, it is important not to underestimate our enemy. They are eager to deploy the USVs, especially since they have already been built. I have a rough idea of how things will develop from here. We'll see," Beskrestnov concluded.
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