Details of the SBU operation against the Russian fleet, which was foiled due to Starlink, have been revealed

The operation against the Russian fleet in Crimea was planned to be carried out in the fall of 2022, but it was disrupted due to a sudden loss of communication.

According to the Atlantic, the operation was planned jointly with the American military.

A flotilla of Ukrainian naval drones was supposed to penetrate the port of Sevastopol, where the Russian Black Sea Fleet was based. Each of the naval drones carried more than 100 kilograms of C-4 explosives and was controlled remotely using the Starlink terminal.

SBU General Ivan Lukashevich, who led the operation, said that great efforts were made to ensure the operation of Starlink near the Crimean coast. To do this, two SBU agents undercover boarded a commercial ship that was heading from Constanta in Romania past the Crimean coast to the port of Poti in Georgia.

They had Starlink with them to check whether it worked along this route.

“It worked perfectly,” Lukashevich emphasized.

The launch of the sea drones was also observed in Kyiv, including with the participation of the then Minister of Digital Transformation, and now Minister of Defense Mykhailo Fedorov.

The drones sailed for seven hours until they approached about 40 nautical miles from the target. But when the first boat of the flotilla rounded the western part of Crimea, its satellite communication with the command center was interrupted.

“At first I thought there was a problem with the first boat. So we sent two more to the same point, and as soon as they crossed a certain line, they also lost contact. Then we realized that they had been disconnected,” said Lukashevich.

After that, Mykhailo Fedorov began calling SpaceX to find out the cause of the failure, but did not receive clear answers. In the end, it was decided to cancel the operation, and the sea drones were returned to the shore.

Recall, Elon Musk later stated that Starlink cannot be used for drone strikes at long distances.