Elon Musk sabotaged Ukrainian attack on Russian fleet in Crimea by turning off Starlink, new book says
Top Russian official praises Musk’s move to shut down Starlink during Ukraine’s strike attempt.
Elon Musk secretly ordered his engineers to disable Starlink satellite communications near the coast of Russian-occupied Crimea last year to sabotage a planned Ukrainian drone strike.
Musk was worried the drone submarine attack, which was targeting the Russian naval fleet in Sevastopol, would escalate tensions and potentially lead to a nuclear war, according to an extract from historian Walter Isaacson’s upcoming biography “Elon Musk.”
Musk on Thursday evening painted a slightly different picture to the one described by Isaacson. He said satellites in those regions were never turned on in the first place and he simply chose not to activate them.
The extract, published by the Washington Post on Thursday, shows Musk’s journey from eager supporter to reluctant ally of Ukraine.
Isaacson writes that Musk reportedly panicked when he heard about the planned Ukrainian attack, which was using Starlink satellites to guide six drones packed with explosives towards the Crimea coast.
After speaking to the Russian ambassador to the United States — who reportedly told him an attack on Crimea would trigger a nuclear response — Musk took matters into his own hands and ordered his engineers to turn off Starlink coverage “within 100 kilometers of the Crimean coast.”
This caused the drones to lose connectivity and wash “ashore harmlessly,” effectively sabotaging the offensive mission.
Ukraine’s reaction was immediate: Officials frantically called Musk and asked him to turn the service back on, telling him that the “drone subs were crucial to their fight for freedom.”
But Musk was unwavering. He argued that Ukraine was “going too far and inviting strategic defeat” and that he did not want his satellites used for offensive purposes.
This was the beginning of a well-documented cooling of relationships between Ukrainian forces and the billionaire entrepreneur, who had been helping keep Ukraine online since the beginning of the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion through his Starlink satellites, as Ukrainian infrastructure was severely damaged by Russian attacks.
But as Ukraine moved on the offensive, Musk started restricting the Ukrainian military’s use of Starlink in Russian-controlled regions and for drone control, while also warning he would stop financially supporting of the service. His argument was the same: He wanted to prevent the conflict from escalating into a world war.
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Elon Musk secretly ordered his engineers to disable Starlink satellite communications near the coast of Russian-occupied Crimea last year to sabotage a planned Ukrainian drone strike.https://t.co/kHfYWXMnxV
— POLITICOEurope (@POLITICOEurope) September 8, 2023
“Act of war” means something that can *cause* a war or justify the initiation of war. Russia lawlessly invaded Ukraine. That was an act of war. Ukraine defending itself is lawful self-defense, not an “act of war.” https://t.co/3iPjkE0BKp
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) September 8, 2023
Sometimes a mistake is much more than just a mistake. By not allowing Ukrainian drones to destroy part of the Russian military (!) fleet via #Starlink interference, @elonmusk allowed this fleet to fire Kalibr missiles at Ukrainian cities. As a result, civilians, children are…
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) September 7, 2023
The US government also uses Starlink facilities for national security purposes, under a slightly different contract regime. But how confident can Americans be that Elon Musk wouldn't sabotage or betray US defense operations for his own ego or political purposes?
— David Frum (@davidfrum) September 8, 2023
DoD should now confirm the extent to which U.S. national security remains dependent on Musk and his technology and there should be a Congressional hearing as to whether or not this in America’s best interest. https://t.co/Wd2KtBD2nM
— Michael Weiss (@michaeldweiss) September 8, 2023
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