SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has officially admitted that he thwarted a Ukrainian attack on the Russian fleet off the coast of Crimea by cutting off Starlink's internet access at a critical time.
The billionaire, who is described as “mercurial,” said in a post on his owned X platform after the matter was revealed: “There was an emergency request from government authorities to activate (Starlink) all the way to Sevastopol. The intention was clear: to sink most of the anchored Russian fleet.”
Musk's stated goal was to avoid SpaceX being drawn into an international war, despite the company donating tens of thousands of Starlink terminals to frontline soldiers, something the then-CEO was very proud of.
Musk added, "If you accept their demands, (SpaceX) will openly engage in major acts of war and escalation of conflict."
But the decision had another clear consequence: It gave the enemy an enormous tactical advantage on the battlefield and drew Musk directly into the ongoing conflict.
Earlier this week, Walter Isaacson's forthcoming biopic Musk revealed that Musk ordered SpaceX to deny Ukrainian soldiers access to the satellite after discovering that underwater drones were attacking Russian warships in Sevastopol.
“How can I participate in this war?” Musk asked Isaacson. “Starlink is not allowed to participate in the war.” Well, no drone strikes. "
Believing that this admission is yet another example of the massive international impact of Musk's unpredictable actions, didn't Musk consider the possibility of using Starlink in the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine? As you know, satellite internet services are quickly becoming an important tool in Ukraine's front-line arsenal.
"Starlink is now really the lifeblood of the entire telecom infrastructure," Ukraine's Minister for Digitization Mikhail Fedorov recently told the New York Times.
Not surprisingly, news of Musk's "sabotage" angered Ukrainian officials. Mykhailo Podolak, senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, condemned the "billionaire's interference".
"As a result, civilians and children have been killed. It is the price of a mixture of ignorance and arrogance," he said in a post on X.