Elon Musk Rejects Ukraine's Request To Activate Starlink Network In Sevastopol For Attack On Russian Fleet

Elon Musk rejected Ukraine's request to activate its Starlink satellite network in the port city of Sevastopol (photo: screenshot/ary)

JAKARTA - Billionaire Elon Musk said he rejected Ukraine's request to activate its Starlink satellite network in the port town of Sevastopol in Crimea last year to assist the attack on the Russian fleet, arguing that he was afraid it would be part of "major war measures."

The billionaire entrepreneur made the comments on his social media platform, X, after CNN cited footage from a new biography of Musk saying he ordered the Starlink network to shut down near Crime beaches last year to disrupt a Ukrainian surprise attack.

In his post on X - formerly known as Twitter - on Thursday evening, September 8, Musk said he had no choice but to reject an emergency request from Ukraine "to enable Starlink to Sevastopol." He did not give the request date, and the footage did not specialize.

"What is clear is to sink most of Russia's leaning fleet," Musk wrote. "If I agree to their request, then SpaceX will be explicitly part of a major war action and an escalation of the conflict."

Russia, which seized the strategic Crimea peninsula in 2014, has a Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol and has used the fleet in the de facto blocking of Ukraine's port since its full-scale invasion in 2022.

The Russian fleet fired cruise missiles at Ukraine's civilian targets, and Kiev has launched attacks on Russian ships using maritime drones.

According to CNN, Walter Isaacson's new biography "Elon Musk," which will be released by Simon & Schuster on Tuesday, September 12 said that when Ukrainian drone submarines carrying explosives last year approached the Russian fleet, they "lost connectivity and were stranded without damage."

CNN said that according to the biography, Musk's decision, which made Ukrainian officials request that he reactivate the satellites, was based on the deep fear that Russia would respond to Ukraine's attacks with nuclear weapons.

In August, a Russian warship suffered serious damage from Ukraine's naval drone strike at Russia's Black naval base in Novorossiysk, the first time the Ukrainian navy has projected its power so far from the country's coast.

SpaceX, through private donations and within the framework of separate contracts with US foreign aid agencies, has provided Starlink internet services to Ukrainians and the country's military, with networks growing rapidly with more than 4,000 satellites in low Earth orbit since the start of the war in 2022.

The Pentagon said in June that SpaceX's Starlink had a contract with the Department of Defense to purchase satellite services for Ukraine.

Comments on the report on Ukraine's national television, Vadym Skybytskyi, an officer at the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense's Intelligence Directorate, did not directly discuss whether Musk rejected Ukraine's request. But he said it was necessary to conduct an investigation and "point out certain groups to investigate what happened."

A Pentagon spokesman declined to comment on Musk's decision, but said, "The department continues to work closely with the commercial industry to ensure we have the right capability Ukraine needs to defend itself."