The Ukrainian army took back more than 200 kilometers of its territory from the Russian army between last Wednesday and Sunday, according to data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the American think tank Critical Threats Project, which establish a probable link with the blocking of Starlink antennas used by Moscow on the front.
Published on: 02/16/2026 - 9:30 p.m.
These are the largest Ukrainian "counter-attacks" since 2023. kyiv's forces took back 201 km² from the Russian army between Wednesday February 11 and Sunday February 15, according to an AFP analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), while Russian military observers report an interruption of the Starlink antennas used by Moscow on the front.
The Ukrainian army has not recaptured so much territory in such a short time since a counter-offensive in June 2023. The area conquered is almost equivalent to the Russian conquests of the entire month of December (244 km²).
“These Ukrainian counterattacks likely take advantage of blocking Russian forces' access to Starlink, which, according to Russian military bloggers, disrupts communications and command,” judges the ISW, which collaborates with the Critical Threats Project, another American think tank.
On February 5, Russian military observers had already noted this interruption after announcements by Elon Musk of “measures” to put an end to the use of this technology by the Kremlin. kyiv claimed that Russian drones used them in particular to circumvent electronic jamming systems and strike their targets with precision.
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An alternative Russian system being tested
Without the use of Starlink, over the past week, only the day of February 9 saw Russian advances on the front. On other days, kyiv gained ground.
The Ukrainian takeovers are mainly concentrated around 80 kilometers east of the city of Zaporizhia, in an area where Russian troops have made significant progress since the summer of 2025.
In mid-February, Moscow totally or partially controlled 19.5% of Ukrainian territory, compared to 18.6% a year earlier. Around 7% – Crimea and part of Donbass – were already under Russian control before the massive invasion launched in February 2022.
According to the Critical Threats Project, Russia is testing an alternative stratospheric communications system to Starlink, which some Russian military bloggers already consider insufficient.
On February 12, the Russian Foundation for Advanced Research Projects (RFRP), a leading military research organization created by the Kremlin, told the TASS news agency that Russia had carried out the maiden flight of the unmanned stratospheric platform Barrage-1, capable of carrying 5G communications equipment for the non-terrestrial network (NTN), reports the American think tank.
"Russian military bloggers, however, have warned that Barrage is not a complete replacement for Starlink. One, close to the Kremlin, even said that a single launched aerostat cannot replace a constellation of several thousand satellites in low orbit, but that it can play a role in a multi-layer communications system."
With AFP
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