Elon Musk says he withheld Starlink over Crimea to avoid escalation
Elon Musk says he withheld Starlink over Crimea to avoid escalation
A senior Ukrainian official says this enabled Russian attacks and accuses him of "committing evil".
Elon Musk says he refused to give Kyiv access to his Starlink communications network over Crimea to avoid complicity in a "major act of war".
Kyiv had sent an emergency request to activate Starlink to Sevastopol, home to a major Russian navy port, he said.
His comments came after a book alleged he had switched off Starlink to thwart a drone attack on Russian ships.
A senior Ukrainian official says this enabled Russian attacks and accused him of "committing evil".
Russian naval vessels had since taken part in deadly attacks on civilians, he said.
"By not allowing Ukrainian drones to destroy part of the Russian military (!) fleet via Starlink interference, Elon Musk allowed this fleet to fire Kalibr missiles at Ukrainian cities," he said.
"Why do some people so desperately want to defend war criminals and their desire to commit murder? And do they now realize that they are committing evil and encouraging evil?" he added.
The row follows the release of a biography of the billionaire by Walter Isaacson which alleges that Mr Musk switched off Ukraine's access to Starlink because he feared that an ambush of Russia's naval fleet in Crimea could provoke a nuclear response from the Kremlin.
Ukraine targeted Russian ships in Sevastopol with submarine drones carrying explosives but they lost connection to Starlink and "washed ashore harmlessly", Mr Isaacson wrote.
Starlink terminals connect to SpaceX satellites in orbit and have been crucial for maintaining internet connectivity and communication in Ukraine as the conflict has disrupted the country infrastructure.
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Right... Pretending it was not the U.S. gov. that pushed Elon to do this.. A continuous conflict in Ukraine that bleeds Russia is the U.S. agenda.
Whatever it takes for you to decide it's the U.S.'s fault, I guess.
I bet you also think the U.S. won in Iraq and Afghanistan too.
Those two things have absolutely nothing to do with each other, quite a reach.
I bet you can't think
You mean the same US government that was paying Musk specifically to maintain Starlink service in Ukraine? That one?
Did you forget that the Pentagon was subsidizing Starlink? Or did you not know that before writing your very intellectual reply?
Do... do you know how much money the US has given to Ukraine for this effort? A continuous conflict is untenable. The U.S. gov would want the opposite of what you're thinking
I don't agree with the person you're talking to, but the US is doing a lend lease with Ukraine like they did with the UK during WWII.
Actually Musk is friends with Putin, and helps his daddy out. Remember when Twitter spoke out with support for Ukraine. Putin didnāt like that so his buddy Musky bought the company and is currently trying to run it into the ground.
It's rather kind of Putin to help the US agenda like that!