Billionaire American businessman Elon Musk last year turned down a request for his Starlink communications satellites to facilitate a Ukrainian attack on Russia’s Black Sea military fleet. The businessman, owner of the aerospace company SpaceX and the electric car company Tesla, assures that with his refusal he tried to prevent SpaceX, which operates the satellite network, from becoming an accomplice to “a major act of war” and “an escalation” of the conflict “, as published this Friday on the social network X (formerly Twitter), which also belongs to him. The revelation, made in an excerpt from a biography of the tycoon broadcast on US broadcaster CNN on Thursday, has sparked criticism in Kiev. President Volodymyr Zelensky’s adviser, Mikhailo Podoliak, said that Musk’s refusal facilitated the bombing of Ukrainian cities and the deaths of civilians and children.
The author of Elon Musk’s biography, Walter Isaacson, told EL PAÍS this week that the book recounts that when the tycoon “used Starlink and shut it down over Crimea to stop a secret attack, he realized he wasn’t doing so much “So he created something called Starshield, which is sold to the United States Armed Forces to decide how to use it,” he explained. “He decided to put the technology in the hands of the U.S. military, so it wasn’t just his decision,” Isaacson added. Elon Musk himself tweeted last February that Starlink had become the “backbone of Ukraine’s connectivity to the front lines,” but warned: “However, we will not allow Starlink to be used for long-range drone strikes.”
There was an urgent request from government authorities to activate Starlink as far as Sevastopol.
The apparent intention was to sink most of the anchored Russian fleet.
If I had agreed to their request, SpaceX would have explicitly been involved in a major act of war and…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 7, 2023
The New York Times published in July that prior to this tweet, it had rejected a request to provide access to Starlink connectivity in the Crimean region for a Ukrainian underwater drone attack on the Russian fleet in the Black Sea. According to the biography titled Elon Musk, he secretly ordered his company’s engineers to shut down Starlink satellites off the coast of Crimea, the peninsula illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, to thwart a surprise attack by Ukraine on the military fleet. Russian Black Sea, stationed in this occupied territory. As Kiev’s underwater drones approached their targets, they “lost connection and crashed onto the shore without causing any damage,” Isaacson’s book says.
Musk’s decision, which was demanded by the Ukrainian government, to bring the satellites back online was based on fears that the attack would provoke a nuclear-armed response from Russia. This concern was prompted by talks Musk had with top Russian officials, according to his biography, which will be released in bookstores on Sept. 12. According to Isaacson, Musk discussed his position in a phone call with Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, and General Mark Milley, the US Army Chief of Staff. He also exchanged messages with Mijaílo Fedorov, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, but ignored his requests.
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The tycoon clarified in his X-profile that the system was already offline and that he simply did not activate it at Kiev’s request: “We have received an urgent request from government authorities to activate Starlink to Sevastopol.” in sinking most of the docked Russian fleet,” the businessman wrote. “If I had accepted your request, SpaceX would have been explicitly involved in a major act of war and an escalation of the conflict,” he added.
According to Isaacson, Musk’s decision sparked appeals from Kiev authorities. Fedorov implored the American billionaire to restore communications to underwater drones and explained the capabilities of these devices in a text message. “I want you, the person who is changing the world through technology, to know that,” Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister told Musk.
Sometimes a mistake is much more than just a mistake. By not allowing Ukrainian drones to destroy part of the Russian military fleet (!) #Starlink Interference, @elonmusk allowed this fleet to fire Kalibr missiles at Ukrainian cities. As a result, civilians and children…
— Mikhail Podolyak (@Podolyak_M) September 7, 2023
“Sometimes a mistake is much more than a mistake,” Podoliak responded Thursday to Isaacson’s revelations in firing Kalibr rockets at Ukrainian cities, Zelenskyi’s adviser added. “As a result, civilians and children were killed. This is a cocktail of ignorance and a big ego. In any case, the question remains: Why do some people try so desperately to defend war criminals and their bloodlust? Do they realize they are doing something wrong?,” he concluded.
After Russia blocked Ukraine’s communications systems just before the all-out invasion of Ukraine, Musk pledged to supply Kiev with terminals for his aerospace company SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, which were vital to Ukraine’s military operations. When the invaded country’s mobile and internet networks were destroyed, these terminals allowed Ukraine to continue the fight and stay connected.
But when Ukraine began using Musk’s technology to organize attacks against Russia, Musk changed his mind, according to Isaacson. “Why am I in this war?” Musk asks the author in a passage from his book quoted by CNN. “Starlink is not meant to be involved in wars, but for people to watch Netflix, for internet access, for schools, and for peaceful causes, not for drone attacks,” they reply rhetorically.
Billionaire Elon Musk, during the opening ceremony of a Tesla factory in Berlin (Germany), in March 2022. Patrick Pleul (AP)
Musk criticized the arms shipments to Ukraine and called on Kiev to cede part of its territory to Russia in order to achieve peace. The businessman has also been criticized for joking with Russian leaders known for their attacks on Ukrainians, such as former President Dmitry Medvedev.
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell recalled last February that the agreement with the Ukrainian government provides for the use of Starlink antennas for humanitarian purposes, but acknowledged that she accepts use for military communications. However, Shotwell warned that the company does not accept its use for data transmission in combat drones. The SpaceX manager angered Kiev by emphasizing that they had the technical resources to prevent this.
The telecommunications of virtually every unit of the Ukrainian Armed Forces depends on Starlink. There are thousands of their satellite dishes on the war front and the demand for them is enormous. Military operations take place in areas where there is no cellular connection for data transmission. And if mobile data transmission is possible, it is less secure because it is easier to intercept than Starlink. The Kremlin has not found a way to jam the signal provided by Elon Musk’s satellites, although this is a priority as it would mean a major setback for Ukrainian troops. Thanks to Starlink, combat units share the coordinates of the targets to be attacked. There are even mechanized units and bomber drones, as this newspaper has confirmed, that have built-in antennas to keep in touch during offensive operations.
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