Elon Musk is facing intense criticism after revelations emerged that his Starlink satellite system was not operational near Crimea, inadvertently halting a Ukrainian operation against Russian ships.
These claims came from an upcoming biography of Musk by Walter Isaacson. The book claims that because of this absence of Starlink, Ukrainian underwater drones, loaded with explosives, “lost connectivity and crawled harmlessly ashore” when they targeted the Russian fleet last year.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an aide to Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy, expressed his outrage. He claimed that Musk’s decision essentially granted Russian warships the opportunity to “fire Kalibr missiles at Ukrainian cities.” Podolyak lamented, “Sometimes a mistake is more than a mistake.”
However, Musk’s perspective is that he intended to keep Starlink neutral, thus avoiding a major disaster. AX, which replaced Twitter, Musk clarified that complying with Kiev’s “emergency request” would make SpaceX “explicitly complicit in a significant act of war and conflict escalation.” He further emphasized: “The Starlink regions in question were not activated. SpaceX did not deactivate anything.”
Musk called for a ceasefire, highlighting the tragic loss of life on both sides. Excerpts from Isaacson’s biography, shared by CNN, reveal Musk’s belief that Starlink’s purpose was to promote peace and connectivity, not facilitate war.
The backdrop to these revelations is Russia’s comprehensive disruption of Ukraine’s communications systems ahead of its full-scale invasion in February 2022. In response, Musk supplied Ukraine with Starlink satellite terminals worth of millions, ensuring they remained connected even as Moscow targeted its technology infrastructure.
Isaacson, the biographer revealing these details, has previously written biographies of notable figures such as Steve Jobs and Albert Einstein.
This article is sourced from and written by AI.
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