A second drone pilot, serving in the eastern Kharkiv region, said that Ukraine does not have an alternative that’s as effective as Starlink for flying drones, but it also affects the unit’s movements — and ultimately survival chances out in the field.

“When we drive into a position, we have a Starlink Mini mounted on the vehicle, and we always try to get there as fast as possible, because if we drive slowly, the enemy will spot us and a drone will catch up with us,” said the pilot, who also only wanted to be identified by his call sign, Dovbush. “So we try to drive fast, but when we drive fast, the connection drops.”

That leaves them with a radio as the only alternative for communication, Dovbush, 31, said, while a lack of reliable connection has impacted reconnaissance drones used to identify targets, he added.

“It’s a knife in the back,” Flint, the drone unit commander, said of the apparent withdrawal of U.S. support.

He said his unit relies on Starshield to fly attack and reconnaissance drones at anything from Russian troops to command posts to tanks. “Its primary role is maintaining the connection with the drone, so this is a very significant loss for us,” he added.

Should Starshield restrictions continue, a large portion of their drones will never even get off the ground, he said, while others will be highly vulnerable, flying at lower speeds. “They could practically be swatted out of the sky with a stick,” he said.

“And the scariest part is that all this is happening against the backdrop of offensive operations on many areas of the front line, including ours,” he added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that restrictions on Starlink were still in place, but that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had told him it would be fully back in about 48 to 72 hours.