Ukraine's hero now becomes its zero: What exactly is Elon Musk being accused of by Ukraine?
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: A furious Ukrainian official has accused Elon Musk of “committing evil” after it emerged that he thwarted a Ukrainian attack on Russian warships by ordering engineers to shut off Starlink’s satellite network over Crimea last year.
The Ukrainian military has heavily relied on the Starlink satellites, operated by Musk's SpaceX, ever since Russia cut down its internet access as part of its invasion in early 2022.
Throughout the war, the connectivity provided by Starlink has been pivotal for Ukraine’s military to coordinate drone strikes and gather intelligence.
Additionally, it also benefited companies, hospitals, and assistance agencies all around Ukraine.
However, the network surprisingly disabled communication as Ukrainian drones approached Russian warships along the shore of the Crimean Peninsula, a territory that Russia illegally seized in 2014.
A soon-to-be-released biography of Musk by Walter Isaacson claimed that the tech mogul allegedly ordered Starlink engineers to turn off communications as he feared that the planned attack on the Kremlin’s Black Sea fleet could escalate tensions and potentially lead to nuclear conflict.
“I think if the Ukrainian attacks had succeeded in sinking the Russian fleet, it would have been like a mini Pearl Harbor and led to a major escalation,” Musk is quoted as saying. “We did not want to be a part of that,” he continued, according to Al Jazeera.
Why do Ukrainian officials accuse Elon Musk of ‘committing evil’?
The shocking claims made in the biography were immediately met with criticism from senior Ukrainian officials, who asserted that Musk’s interference led to the deaths of civilians, calling them “the price of a cocktail of ignorance and big ego.”
“By not allowing Ukrainian drones to destroy part of the Russian fleet via Starlink interference, @elonmusk allowed this fleet to fire Kalibr missiles at Ukrainian cities. As a result, civilians, and children are being killed,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said in a scathing statement on X.
Sometimes a mistake is much more than just a mistake. 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. As a result, civilians, children are…
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) September 7, 2023
“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?” he continued.
Elon Musk responds to accusations
In response to the claims, Musk denied turning off the service, although he did acknowledge that he had decided not to enable the attack as he did not want to get directly engaged in the war.
“The Starlink regions in question were not activated. SpaceX did not deactivate anything,” Musk said in response to a thread on X about the new book’s claims.
There was an emergency request from government authorities to activate Starlink all the way to Sevastopol.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 7, 2023
The obvious intent being to sink most of the Russian fleet at anchor.
If I had agreed to their request, then SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war and…
“There was an emergency request from government authorities to activate Starlink all the way to Sevastopol,” he said, referring to a key port city in Crimea that is home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.
“The obvious intent was to sink most of the Russian fleet at anchor. If I had agreed to their request, then SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation,” he continued.