UAV event in Zaporizhzhia, Huliaipole area, Ukraine on Mon 24th August 2026

Defense Forces strike rare Russian counterpart to Starlink in Huliaipole area.

An FPV crew from the 1st Separate Assault Regiment named after Dmytro Kotsyubailo destroyed a Russian invaders’ “Spirit-030” portable satellite internet terminal in the Huliaipole area.

The regiment reported this on Facebook, posting a video of the incident, according to Ukrinform.

The “Spirit-030” is a rare device that the Russians are using as a substitute for Starlink terminals. The antenna on this device has a diameter of only 30 cm, which makes it much harder to detect.

Russian troops began deploying “Spirit-030” terminals on a large scale after March of this year.

As reported by Ukrinform, Starlink verification was launched in Ukraine earlier this year, which restricted the operation of the terminals—only verified and registered ones continued to operate, while all others were shut down.

Without Starlink, Russia faced a catastrophe in its command and control of troops.

In August, it became known that Russia was accelerating the deployment of the “Rassvet” satellite constellation—its own counterpart to the Starlink system—ahead of the schedule it had set in its own plans.