Elon Musk facing backlash from Ukraine for stopping attack on Russian naval fleet
Barnini Chakraborty
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Tech titan Elon Musk is being blasted by Ukraine for enabling Moscow’s war by shutting off internet service through his Starlink satellite last year to thwart a drone attack on a Russian naval fleet.
The admission was made by Musk to biographer Walter Isaacson for his new book Elon Musk.
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Musk ordered the deactivation of the satellite service near the coast of Crimea last September, according to excerpts obtained by CNN and the Washington Post. The book also claims Musk had a conversation with a Russian official who led him to believe that an attack on Crimea could spiral out of control and lead to a nuclear war, endangering the lives of millions of more people.
Following the initial backlash, Musk tried to defend his actions, claiming he had not disabled the service so much as refused to comply with an emergency request by Ukrainian officials to enable the service in the specific area. His denial, however, was a roundabout admission he had interfered with Ukraine’s plan to attack Russia’s naval fleet.
Musk’s Starlink has played a high-profile role in Ukraine’s conflict with Russia and has been praised in the past for lending a lifeline to areas in Ukraine where communication lines had been wiped out by Russian forces. The praise has since shifted to scorn following the news that Musk helped Moscow.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, used X, the tech billionaire’s own media platform formerly known as Twitter, to hold him accountable.
“Sometimes a mistake is much more than just a mistake,” Podolyak wrote. “By not allowing Ukrainian drones to destroy part of the Russian military (!) fleet via #Starlink interference, @elonmusk allowed this fleet to fire Kalibr missiles at Ukrainian cities.”
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Podokyak added, “As a result, civilians, children are being killed. This is the price of a cocktail of ignorance and big ego. However, the question still remains: 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?”
Starlink is a satellite operated by Musk’s SpaceX and provides coverage to more than 60 countries.