MUSK TURNED OFF STARLINK TO SABOTAGE UKRAINIAN ATTACK ON RUSSIAN FLEET IN CRIMEA, NEW BOOK SAYS

Fri 08 September 2023:

A part of Elon Musk’s upcoming biography, which will be released later this year, was cited by CNN on Thursday to suggest that the SpaceX and Tesla founder personally intervened to stop a Ukrainian attack on Crimea last year out of concern for a nuclear war.

CNN on Thursday quoted an excerpt from the biography Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson, which described how armed submarine drones were approaching a Russian fleet near the Crimean coast when they “lost connectivity and washed ashore harmlessly”.

The biography, due out on Tuesday, alleges Musk had secretly ordered SpaceX engineers to shut off the Starlink signal near Crimea, according to this account, concerned that Russia might use nuclear weapons in reaction to what he described as a “mini-Pearl Harbor.”

Ukrainian Digital Transformation Minister Mikhail Fedorov then begged Musk to turn the signal back on via text messages, outlining the capabilities of the sea drones. Musk said no, explaining that Ukraine “is now going too far and inviting strategic defeat” by attacking Crimea.

The abortive drone strike was first reported by the New York Times in July, but did not include details of the exchange with Fedorov.

SpaceX has donated more than 20,000 Starlink terminals to Kiev since February 2022, with the intention of providing internet access and communications to civilians. The systems were weaponized almost immediately, however, leading to Musk having to explain himself to both Moscow and Washington.

Musk did not react to the CNN story until later in the day, when he posted on X (formerly Twitter) to clarify what happened.

“SpaceX did not deactivate anything,” Musk said. Ukraine had requested activation of the Starlink signal “all the way to Sevastopol. The obvious intent being to sink most of the Russian fleet at anchor,” he explained. “If I had agreed to their request, then SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation.”

.Musk, the CEO of the Tesla electric car company and SpaceX rocket and spacecraft manufacturer, as well as the owner of X, initially agreed to supply Starlink hardware to Ukraine after Russia’s full-scale invasion disrupted Ukrainian communications. But he reportedly had second thoughts after Kyiv succeeded in repelling the initial Russian assault and began to counterattack.

Musk has previously been embroiled in a social media spat with Ukrainian officials including president Volodymyr Zelenskiy over his ideas for ending Russia’s invasion.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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