On Friday, September 8, Elon Musk revealed that Starlink satellite communications network was never activated last year near the Crimean coast and that if it had agreed to an emergency request from the Ukrainian government, it would have been ‘complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation’.
Starlink is a satellite internet network provided by SpaceX, the aerospace company headed by Elon Musk. The network comprises around 5000 satellites in low earth orbit and internet connections are provided through small antennas, similar to how satellite TV works.
The saga began as one of the Twitter users, Mario Nawful posted on Twitter (X) that during a major Ukrainian offensive, Elon Musk secretly instructed his engineers to deactivate Starlink’s satellite communications network. He added that the said step was taken to deliberately block a surprise attack by Ukraine against the Russian naval fleet, to prevent a retaliatory nuclear attack by Russia.
“Elon Musk covertly instructed his engineers to deactivate Starlink’s satellite communications network during a MAJOR Ukrainian offensive. This action was taken to intentionally thwart a surprise attack by Ukraine against the Russian naval fleet. The Ukrainian submarine drones, armed with explosives, mysteriously lost connectivity as they advanced toward the Russian warships. Now we know that Musk intentionally deactivated Starlink. Ukrainian officials pleaded for the reactivation of the satellites, however, Musk was concerned the attack could trigger a nuclear response from Russia,” the user wrote on Twitter (X).
ELON PREVENTS NUCLEAR WAR?
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) September 7, 2023
Elon Musk covertly instructed his engineers to deactivate Starlink's satellite communications network during a MAJOR Ukrainian offensive.
This action was taken to intentionally thwart a surprise attack by Ukraine against the Russian naval fleet.
The… pic.twitter.com/I0RtYVuzth
However, responding to the assertion, Elon Musk said that “Starlink regions in question were never activated. SpaceX did not deactivate anything.”
Musk meanwhile added that the government authorities from Ukraine had made an emergency request to activate Starlink all the way to Sevastopol. The intention was to sink most of the Russian fleet at anchor. “If I had agreed to their request, then SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation,” Musk said.
The user later revealed that the post was made with reference to a new feature article posted exclusively by CNN News. To this Musk responded by saying that the Ukraine govt had asked to activate Starlink up to Sevastopol, which was refused by the company. He said that the obvious intent was to sink most of the Russian fleet at anchor.
“If I had agreed to their request, then SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation,” he added.
Musk clarified that the company didn’t deactivate any Starlink service, but refused to activate it in the conflict zone, where it could be actively used in war. Had the service was activated, Ukraine would have used to attack the Russian naval fleet, which could have resulted in a major retaliation by Russia, including a nuclear strike.
Mario Nawfal replied to Musk asking if his decision prevented a potential nuclear conflict or at least significant escalation. However Elon Musk didn’t reply to the question.
CNN News referred to the excerpts from the writer Walter Isaacson’s new biography named ‘Elon Musk’. The article titled ‘‘How am I in this war?’: New Musk biography offers fresh details about the billionaire’s Ukraine dilemma’ stated that in order to prevent a Ukrainian sneak attack on the Russian naval fleet, Elon Musk covertly instructed his engineers to shut down his company’s Starlink satellite communications network close to the Crimean coast last year.
Drones from a Ukrainian submarine carrying explosives approached the Russian fleet but “lost connectivity and washed ashore harmlessly,” Isaacson wrote in the book.
According to Isaacson, whose new book is scheduled to be released by Simon & Schuster on September 12, Musk’s decision, which left Ukrainian officials pleading with him to turn the satellites back on, was motivated by an intense fear that Russia would respond to a Ukrainian attack on Crimea with nuclear weapons.
The article claimed that Musk had become a power broker that US officials couldn’t ignore amid the Russia-Ukraine war. Further, as per the book written by Isaacson, Musk agreed to give Ukraine millions of dollars worth of Starlink satellite terminals built by SpaceX when Russia interfered with Ukraine’s communications networks soon before its full-scale invasion in February 2022. These terminals were essential to Ukraine’s military operations. The Starlink terminals allowed Ukraine to fight while maintaining communication despite the fact that the cell phone and internet networks had been devastated.
Musk began to regret that choice, though, as Ukraine started employing Starlink terminals in its offensive attacks against Russia, claims the book.
“How am I in this war?” Isaacson was allegedly questioned by Musk. Starlink was not intended to take part in conflicts. Instead of drone strikes, it was so that people might watch Netflix, unwind, use the internet for study, and carry out good deeds, he said.
Isaacson as quoted by CNN then wrote, “Musk was soon on the phone with President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, the chairman of the joint chiefs, Gen. Mark Milley, and the Russian ambassador to the US to address anxieties from Washington, DC, to Moscow.”
Musk however has said that the report by CNN is misleading and that the Starlink service was not activated in the regions in question, and therefore there was no question of deactivating anything. “SpaceX did not deactivate anything,” he tweeted.
He also meanwhile advocated for both Russia and Ukraine to resolve the issue peacefully. “Every day that passes, more Ukrainian and Russian youth die to gain and lose small pieces of land, with borders barely changing. This is not worth their lives,” he said.
Notably, the use of the Starlink service during the Russian invasion of Ukraine is noteworthy, as Russian strikes severely damaged the Ukrainian communications network. The service was activated in Kyv and then in other regions of the country soon after the Russian invasion. However,
Notably, the use of the Starlink service during the Russian invasion of Ukraine is noteworthy, as Russian strikes severely damaged the Ukrainian communications network. The service was activated in Kyv and then in other regions of the country soon after the Russian invasion. The military and government of Ukraine quickly became reliant on Starlink as it replaced Internet services that had been lost during the war.
However, Sevastopol is a city in Crimea, a former Ukrainian region now under Russian control, therefore it is unlikely that Starlink was ever activated there, as claimed by the book, which Musk has already denied. Sevastopol has a major port and naval base, and availability of satellite internet service in the area would have helped Ukraine in attacking the Russian naval fleet, greatly escalating the tension.
