When Elon Musk is not busy with the latest updates to X, he is studying diplomatic relations. Thus he received criticism for his actions from an aide close to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in response to the Russian invasion.
The particular criticism surrounds the use of SpaceX’s Starlink communication satellites in Ukraine, something Musk provided the embattled country not long after the war commenced in February 2022. The unexpected criticism stemmed from SpaceX’s Starlink communications satellites, which Musk provided to the embattled country shortly after the outbreak of war in February 2022.
In October 2022, it was reported that Starlink could no longer afford the free provision to Ukraine and wanted the US Pentagon to foot the bill. It happened some days after Musk had run a poll suggesting the seized peninsula of Crimea should formally become part of Russia. Andrij Melnyk, Ukrainian ambassador to Brazil, told Musk to “f*** off”.
The answer from Musk didn’t take long. Musk tweeted at the time, before reversing on that stance:
“We’re just following his recommendation.”
Earlier we mentioned an upcoming biography on Elon Musk by author Walter Isaacson where the author claims the businessman quietly ordered engineers to switch off Starlink near the coast of Crimea to both a Ukrainian attack on Russian warships because he feared it would push the Kremlin towards starting a nuclear war. Musk asked Isaacson:
“Do I take part in this war? Starlink was not meant to be involved in wars.”
Yet Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of Zelensky’s office, posted 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, Elon Musk allowed this fleet to fire Kalibr missiles at Ukrainian cities. As a result, civilians, children are being killed. This is the price of a cocktail of ignorance and big ego.”
The Twitter/X owner has since taken to his platform to clarify the situation, claiming:
“The Starlink were turned off in regions mention above. We did not deactivate anything. Both sides should agree to a truce. Every day that passes, more Ukrainian and Russian youth die to gain and lose small pieces of land, with borders barely changing.”
