A senior aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Elon Musk of “committing a crime” – and being driven by a “cocktail of ignorance and a huge ego” – when he foiled a drone attack on the Russian fleet.
Mykhailo Podolyak slammed claims in a new biography of the tech billionaire that Musk, in 2022, ordered his engineers to shut down his Starlink satellite network operated by SpaceX in Crimea to prevent a “mini Pearl Harbor” targeting Moscow warships.
“Sometimes a mistake is more than just a mistake,” Zelensky advises wrote in an angry note on Xformerly known as Twitter — a platform that Musk also owns.
Podolyak argued that by not allowing Ukrainian drones to destroy part of Russia’s Black Sea fleet through his alleged interference with the Starlink network, Musk allowed naval ships to fire Kalibr missiles into Ukrainian cities and slaughter civilians.
Elon Musk got a response from senior Ukrainian officials after the SpaceX founder allegedly foiled a drone attack on the Russian fleet. Getty Images
Sometimes a mistake is more than just a mistake. By not allowing Ukrainian drones to destroy part of the Russian military fleet (!) through #Starlink disturbance, @elonmusk allowing this fleet to fire Kalibr missiles at Ukrainian cities. As a result, the general public, children…
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) September 7, 2023
Mykhailo Podolyak slammed Musk on Twitter Thursday.
“This is the price of a huge cocktail of ignorance and ego,” the Ukrainian official said. “However, the question remains: why are some people so desperate to defend war criminals and their desire to commit murder? And do they now realize that they are doing evil and encouraging evil?”
Facing backlash, Musk responded to the allegations in Walter Isaacson’s soon-to-be-published book, “Elon Musk,” excerpts of which were featured by CNN Thursday.
The 52-year-old business tycoon denied turning off the satellite – but admitted he would not have allowed the planned attack to go ahead.
The Starlink area in question is not activated. SpaceX is not deactivating anything.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 7, 2023
Musk, 52, denied turning off the Starlink satellite in Crimea – but said it was not activated.
“The Starlink region in question is not activated. SpaceX is not deactivating anything,” Musk said in a tweet replied to the thread about Isaacson’s book.
In a separate post, Musk explained that government officials made an emergency request to activate Starlink satellites up to the port of Sevastopol in Russian-annexed Crimea.
“The clear intention is to sink most of the Russian fleet at anchor,” Musk wrote. “If I had agreed to their request, then SpaceX would have been explicitly involved in a major act of war and escalation of the conflict.”
The Ukrainian military has relied on the Starlink satellite constellation to operate their military drones. Reuters
A new biography of Elon Musk claims that the billionaire shut down Starlink satellites to prevent Kyiv from destroying Russian warships with unmanned sea drones. Security Service of Ukraine
According to CNN, Isaacson wrote that as a result of the satellite being inactive, a Ukrainian submarine drone carrying a bomb towards Russia’s Black Sea fleet “lost contact and splashed ashore harmlessly.”
Musk allegedly believed if the attack was allowed to succeed, Moscow would respond with nuclear weapons – a concern he had based on conversations with senior Russian officials, according to a biography to be released next week.
Musk was quoted as allegedly telling Isaacson that the 2,200 Starlink satellite constellations, which are critical to Ukraine’s drone use, “are not meant to be involved in warfare.” It’s so people can watch Netflix and relax and go online to go to school and do good things in peace, not drone strikes.”
Russia has been bombing Ukrainian cities and killing civilians for over 18 months. Telegram / @dnipropetrovskaODA/AFP via Getty Images
In February, SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell surprised and angered the Ukrainian leadership by complaining that Kyiv had “weaponized” their internet service.
Satellite links help the Ukrainian military locate the enemy and target long-range artillery strikes.
Speaking to reporters after a conference in Washington DC, Shotwell hinted that SpaceX had taken action to block the use of Ukraine’s Starlink satellites for military purposes – but it was not known if he was talking about the thwarted Crimean attack.
Musk and other senior Starlink officials have previously complained about Ukraine weaponizing their satellite network. NurPhoto via Getty Images
In October 2022, Musk called on the Pentagon to take over funding for the Starlink network operating in Ukraine after sparking disruption over his argument that Russia should be allowed to keep Crimea as part of a peace deal.
Musk eventually backed down and continued to foot the bill for Ukraine’s satellite internet service, which has been a lifeline for the war-torn country.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
