Elon Musk denied Starlink access to Ukraine for Crimea attack
3 Min Read
Musk has expressed that his firm cannot be used to aid in offensive strikes.
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Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk during the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition on March 9, 2020 in Washington, US. (AP)
According to a US source, Elon Musk caused Ukraine to abandon a planned naval drone strike in the Black Sea by withholding access to the Starlink satellite network.
The Ukrainian military was thus unable to remotely pilot an explosive-laden drone into a Russian ship in Crimea.
Musk has formerly stated that he does not want Starlink to be used for long-range offensive operations.
The New York Times reported that General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, the chief of Ukraine's armed forces, expressed his concern to US General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as Kiev's senior general informed him that his soldiers' access to Starlink had been impeded on several occasions.
Since the beginning of the war, Ukraine has received around 20,000 Starlink terminals.
Read more: Musk's Starlink, Space X arms of US empire & war machine: MintPress
Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak told The Telegraph that the implementation of decision-making must be independent and the risks are too great when they "depend on external circumstances or third parties."
Kenneth Roth, a former executive director of Human Rights Watch, revealed that Ukrainian operations are sometimes rejected by Musk, in a position of power that Ulrike Franke, a senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, says "no individual should have."
Musk's SpaceX corporation operates a "constellation" of satellites that can be used to coordinate drone and artillery attacks, provide live footage from the battlefield, and gather intelligence. However, the CEO has always been concerned about his system being used for harmful purposes.
According to the New York Times, citing persons familiar with the matter, he has blocked access to Starlink on various occasions throughout the war.
In February, Musk tweeted, "We are not allowing Starlink to be used for long-range drone strikes.”
Ukraine has utilized a fleet of naval drones to attack Russian targets, most notably destroying a section of the Kerch bridge that connects Crimea to mainland Russia.
Musk's unilateral authority over the Starlink system is what worries Ukraine's government.
Last year, Musk lit the Twitter platform on fire after proposing a "peace plan" for the war in Ukraine, arguing that Russia will probably win the war eventually, thus "millions of people may die needlessly for an essentially identical outcome."
The billionaire's initiative was greeted as a "positive" step by the Kremlin, while Kiev accused him of making plans aligned with Russian interests.
