Elon Musk said he never responded to a request from Ukraine to use Starlink for drone strikes on the Russian fleet in the Black Sea, but also made no changes to the satellite internet network to thwart the strike.
Musk used a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, to clarify details of the incident, which he maintains were misinterpreted from excerpts from the upcoming biography of “Elon Musk” written by Walter Isaacson.
CNN reported on Thursday that Musk had secretly shut down Starlink to disrupt a sneak attack on Russia’s Black Sea fleet.
Isaacson expanded on the billionaire’s decision and explained that Musk did not change the Starlink network in any way, but instead refused to increase its coverage.
“To clarify the Starlink issue: Ukrainians THINK coverage is enabled all the way to Crimea, but it’s not,” Isaacson said in a post on X.
“They asked Musk to allow it for their sub drone attack on the Russian fleet. Musk didn’t allow it, because he thought, probably right, that would cause a big war.
Elon Musk says he did not deactivate Starlink to thwart Ukraine’s attack on Russia’s Black Sea fleet. Security Service of Ukraine
Musk retweeted his biographer’s explanation and thanked Isaacson for the explanation.
“The responsibility is different if I refuse to act on a request from Ukraine versus making deliberate changes to Starlink to frustrate Ukraine,” Musk wrote.
“I or anyone at SpaceX never promised coverage over Crimea. Also, our terms of service clearly prohibit Starlink for offensive military action, because we are a civilian system, so they are again asking for something that is expressly prohibited.”
Musk said he did not change the Starlink service, instead refusing to act on a request from Ukraine to use it to conduct drone attacks. Reuters
Musk’s comments came after claims that he deactivated Starlink to prevent attacks and criticism from Ukrainian officials.
“Sometimes a mistake is more than just a mistake,” Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X Thursday.
“By not allowing Ukrainian drones to destroy part of the Russian military fleet (!) through #Starlink interference, @elonmusk allowing this fleet to fire Kalibr missiles at Ukrainian cities. As a result, civilians, children were killed.”
Musk said he did not make his company SpaceX to “obviously engage in major acts of war and escalation of conflict.” NurPhoto via Getty Images
However, Musk defended his decision, saying that he did not want his company, SpaceX, to “explicitly engage in large-scale acts of war and escalation of conflict.”
Isaacson’s biography of Musk will go on sale Tuesday.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
