Elon Musk claims that he did not provide access to the Starlink communications network that he operates over Crimea to the Ukrainian government in order to avoid becoming part in a “major act of war.”
He stated that Kyiv had transmitted an urgent request to activate Starlink to Sevastopol, which is the location of a significant naval port for the Russian navy.
His remarks came after it was suggested in a book that he had turned down Starlink in order to prevent a drone attack on Russian vessels.
This, according to a top Ukrainian official, allowed Russian attacks, and the official has been accused of “committing evil.”
According to him, since then, Russian naval vessels have taken part in attacks that have resulted in the death of civilians.
“Elon Musk allowed this fleet to fire Kalibr missiles at Ukrainian cities by not allowing Ukrainian drones to destroy part of the Russian military fleet via Starlink interference,” he added. “This fleet was able to do this because Elon Musk did not permit Ukrainian drones to destroy part of the Russian military fleet.”
“Why do some people feel such an overwhelming need to defend war criminals and their desire to kill?” And do they recognize that they are participating in evil and encouraging others to participate in evil?” he asked further.
The dispute began with the publication of a biography of the billionaire written by Walter Isaacson. In the book, Isaacson claims that Mr. Musk cut off Ukraine’s access to Starlink out of worry that an ambush of Russia’s naval fleet in Crimea could provoke a nuclear response from the Russian government. This allegation sparked the dispute between the two countries.
According to what Mr. Isaacson stated, the Ukraine sent submarine drones carrying explosives to target Russian ships in the port of Sevastopol. However, the drones lost connection to Starlink and “washed ashore harmlessly.”
Because of the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, the country’s infrastructure has been severely affected, but thanks to Starlink terminals that connect to SpaceX satellites in orbit, internet connectivity and communication have been maintained to an acceptable level.
Shortly after Russia began its full-scale assault on its neighbor in February of last year, SpaceX began delivering thousands of Starlink satellite dishes to Ukraine. Mr. Musk is the largest stakeholder in SpaceX, the company that is providing the satellite dishes.
In response to the assertion made in the book, Mr. Musk stated on X that SpaceX “did not deactivate anything” because the company’s operations in certain areas had never been activated to begin with.
“There was an urgent request for Starlink to be activated all the way to Sevastopol from the relevant officials in the government. The clear goal was to destroy the majority of the Russian navy while it was anchored,” he stated.
“Had I given in to their demand, SpaceX would have been openly complicit in a major act of war and the escalation of the conflict.”
Former Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev tweeted the following: “If what Isaacson has written in his book is true, then it looks like Musk is the last adequate mind in North America.”
In 2014, Russia carried out an unlawful annexation of Crimea, which occurred eight years before Moscow began its all-out assault of Ukraine.
Even though the technology had “become the connectivity backbone of Ukraine all the way up to the front lines,” Mr. Musk has stated in the past that “we are not allowing Starlink to be used for long-range drone strikes.”
Mr. Musk pressed the matter further by asking Mr. Isaacson, “Where do I stand in this war? Wars were not intended to be a part of Starlink’s original design. It was so that people could watch Netflix and chill out, get online for school, and do wonderful peaceful things; it wasn’t so that they could carry out drone strikes.
In addition to this, he voiced his own opinion by pleading for a cease-fire and stating that it was not justified for Ukrainians and Russians to waste their lives “to gain and lose small pieces of land.” He believed that their sacrifice was in vain.
Last year, Putin proposed a plan to end the war that urged the world formally recognize Crimea as part of Russia and asked residents of regions seized by Russia last year to vote on which country they wanted to be a part of. This caused a lot of controversy and outrage among people, and it was a mistake for him to do so.
Garry Kasparov, a grandmaster of the game of chess in Russia, referred to that plan as “moral idiocy.”
