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submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by little_cow@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

Elon Musk says he refused to give Kyiv access to his Starlink communications network over Crimea to avoid complicity in a "major act of war".

Kyiv had sent an emergency request to activate Starlink to Sevastopol, home to a major Russian navy port, he said.

His comments came after a book alleged he had switched off Starlink to thwart a drone attack on Russian ships.

A senior Ukrainian official says this enabled Russian attacks and accused him of "committing evil".

Russian naval vessels had since taken part in deadly attacks on civilians, he said.

"By not allowing Ukrainian drones to destroy part of the Russian military (!) fleet via Starlink interference, Elon Musk allowed this fleet to fire Kalibr missiles at Ukrainian cities," he said.

"Why do some people so desperately want to defend war criminals and their desire to commit murder? And do they now realize that they are committing evil and encouraging evil?" he added.

The row follows the release of a biography of the billionaire by Walter Isaacson which alleges that Mr Musk switched off Ukraine's access to Starlink because he feared that an ambush of Russia's naval fleet in Crimea could provoke a nuclear response from the Kremlin.

Ukraine targeted Russian ships in Sevastopol with submarine drones carrying explosives but they lost connection to Starlink and "washed ashore harmlessly", Mr Isaacson wrote.

Starlink terminals connect to SpaceX satellites in orbit and have been crucial for maintaining internet connectivity and communication in Ukraine as the conflict has disrupted the country infrastructure.

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[-] scarabic@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago

Musk saw a bully go over and punch a kid. So Musk ran over and held the kid’s hands behind him. Because punching back would have just escalated things.

[-] umbraroze@kbin.social 8 points 2 years ago

Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov said that plan displayed “moral idiocy”

Musk: "Moral idiocy? Moral idiocy?! I'm not a moral idiot! I'm an immoral idiot! Besides, chess is a kid's game! 1v1 me in Polytopia, bitch! Bet you can't understand fog of war, noob!"
Kasparov: "...very well. Please show me how these pieces move."
[15 minutes later later]
Musk: "I can't BELIEVE I fell for that."

[-] Ulrich_the_Old@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 years ago

Racist war criminal says what?

[-] TokenBoomer@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago

Musk didn’t survive the emerald mine wars and spend six years at West Point for you to second guess his decisions. /s

[-] LEDZeppelin@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago

Name one other business who’s policies change at the whim of its CEO

[-] Pieisawesome@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago

All of them?

The CEO can change any policy

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[-] autotldr@lemmings.world 4 points 2 years ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Elon Musk says he refused to give Kyiv access to his Starlink communications network over Crimea to avoid complicity in a "major act of war".

The row follows the release of a biography of the billionaire by Walter Isaacson which alleges that Mr Musk switched off Ukraine's access to Starlink because he feared that an ambush of Russia's naval fleet in Crimea could provoke a nuclear response from the Kremlin.

Ukraine targeted Russian ships in Sevastopol with submarine drones carrying explosives but they lost connection to Starlink and "washed ashore harmlessly", Mr Isaacson wrote.

SpaceX, in which Mr Musk is the largest shareholder, began providing thousands of Starlink satellite dishes to Ukraine shortly after Russia launched its full-scale assault on its neighbour in February last year.

In the past, Mr Musk has said that while the system had "become the connectivity backbone of Ukraine all the way up to the front lines", "we are not allowing Starlink to be used for long-range drone strikes".

He also offered a personal opinion, calling for a truce and saying that Ukrainians and Russians were dying "to gain and lose small pieces of land" and this was not worth their lives.


The original article contains 558 words, the summary contains 197 words. Saved 65%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[-] Echo71Niner@kbin.social 4 points 2 years ago

Right... Pretending it was not the U.S. gov. that pushed Elon to do this.. A continuous conflict in Ukraine that bleeds Russia is the U.S. agenda.

[-] Chozo@kbin.social 9 points 2 years ago

You mean the same US government that was paying Musk specifically to maintain Starlink service in Ukraine? That one?

Did you forget that the Pentagon was subsidizing Starlink? Or did you not know that before writing your very intellectual reply?

[-] kn0wmad1c@programming.dev 9 points 2 years ago

Do... do you know how much money the US has given to Ukraine for this effort? A continuous conflict is untenable. The U.S. gov would want the opposite of what you're thinking

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[-] mx_smith@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago

Actually Musk is friends with Putin, and helps his daddy out. Remember when Twitter spoke out with support for Ukraine. Putin didn’t like that so his buddy Musky bought the company and is currently trying to run it into the ground.

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this post was submitted on 08 Sep 2023
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