American billionaire Elon Musk claims to have prevented a Ukrainian attack on a Russian naval base last year by rejecting a request from Kiev to activate internet access via its satellite in the Black Sea near Moscow-annexed Crimea.
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“We have received an urgent request from government authorities to activate Starlink to Sevastopol,” he said. Posted on Thursday on X (formerly Twitter). ).
“The obvious intention was to sink most of the Russian fleet at anchor,” he added.
Internet service via the Starlink satellite, operated by Musk-owned SpaceX, was launched in Ukraine shortly after Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
This network, frequently used by soldiers on the ground, is an important tool for Kiev on the battlefield.
“If I had followed their request, SpaceX would clearly have been involved in a major act of war and an escalation of the conflict,” Elon Musk argued.
The billionaire’s statements were strongly condemned by Mykhaïlo Podoliak, adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office.
According to him, “by not allowing Ukrainian drones to destroy part of the Russian military fleet,” Elon Musk allowed this fleet to fire missiles at Ukrainian cities, which “killed civilians and children.”
“That’s the price of a cocktail of ignorance and big egos,” he added.
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Elon Musk responded to a published excerpt from an upcoming biography dedicated to him by Walter Isaacson.
Mr. Isaacson writes that in September 2022, when the Ukrainian army attempted an attack on the Russian fleet, the tycoon “spoke to the Russian ambassador to the United States … who told him that a Ukrainian attack on Crimea would result in a Nuclear attack would result in a “reaction,” says an excerpt published by The Washington Post.
According to the biographer, Elon Musk had “secretly instructed his engineers to deactivate coverage within a 100-kilometer radius of the Crimean coast,” causing the attack already in progress to fail.
On both”.
The Pentagon did not say whether Musk’s actions were acceptable for a U.S. government contractor or what steps might be taken in response.
A spokesman said only that the Defense Department was “aware of and interested in this issue” and declined to provide any “operational details” about Starlink for security reasons.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev welcomed the American tycoon’s decision.
If this story is true, “it appears that Musk is the last sane person in North America,” he commented.
Musk on Thursday also called for a ceasefire in the conflict in which Ukrainian forces have regained ground against Russia but have made slow progress in a counteroffensive launched in June.
“Both sides should agree to a ceasefire. With each passing day, more and more young Ukrainians and Russians are pushing to win or lose small plots of land, with borders changing little. “It’s not worth their lives,” the billionaire said.