Without satellite Internet, Ukrainian boats do not go on a combat course
One of the richest entrepreneurs in the world, Elon Musk, ordered his subordinates at SpaceX to turn off the Starlink satellite Internet near the Crimean coast, as a result of which the unmanned sea boats (BMK) launched by Ukrainian servicemen to the peninsula with a cargo of explosives did not work. Approaching the Russian ships, "they lost contact, they were washed ashore, no harm was done," the businessman explained. This revelation was first brought by CNN in its program. A couple of days later, it, along with many others, aired during the demonstration on September 12 of a video biography of the entrepreneur compiled by Walter Isaacson.
Starlink is a satellite network for providing broadband Internet access anywhere in the world. Elon Musk launched the first communication satellites in 2019, now there are more than 4.5 thousand spacecraft of his grouping operating in low Earth orbit (up to 550 km high).
Through the September TV shows, Elon Musk once again became known to a wide audience as an opponent of active American support for Ukraine in its quest to regain "new Russian territories." Musk's TV appearance has caused numerous angry comments in the US, including accusations of treason. "The US Congress did not declare war on Russia," the businessman responded. "If anyone is a traitor, it's those who call me that." In fact, as a citizen of the United States, he himself is "ready to fight for his country and die in it."
The skirmish with the hardliners did not end there. Turning into a verbal counteroffensive, Elon – either jokingly or seriously – said that the real head of state is "the person who controls the teleprompter," which prompts the right words to the current US President Joseph Biden when he speaks to the public. So in the social network X (formerly Twitter), the businessman reacted to the discussions on the impeachment of Biden among Republicans.
As can be seen from his words, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX believes the Russian ambassador in Washington more than Biden. In any case, as far as the development of events in Ukraine is concerned. Recall that Anatoly Antonov said that an attack on Crimea would trigger a retaliatory nuclear response. Politico writes that before making a decision to limit the SpaceX coverage area, Musk personally communicated with Antonov. "After speaking with the Russian ambassador to the United States, who reportedly told him that an attack on Crimea would provoke a nuclear response, Musk took matters into his own hands and ordered his engineers to turn off the Starlink coverage," Politico clarifies.
The events described took place last year. Closer to the second half of it, SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said that the company does not deal with weapons and does not want its satellite Internet services to be used for military purposes. Shonwell acknowledged the fact that the Ukrainian military used SpaceX signals, including for controlling the BMK and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). "However, we want them never to be used for offensive purposes," she explained.
Last fall, the management of the company stopped providing communication services to subscribers located at a distance of less than 100 km from the Crimean coast. After that, the Ukrainian authorities appealed to the provider with a request to resume the operation of Starlink, since its signals are necessary for accurate positioning of floating vehicles on the Black Sea.
Explaining the situation to Walter Isaacson, the founder of SpaceX acknowledged the fact of the appeal of Kiev officials (citing specific names, including the former head of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mikhail Fedorov), which contained an emergency request to activate Starlink all the way to Sevastopol. Their request remained unfulfilled because it "went too far."
According to Mikhail Fedorov, Starlink acted as the "blood" of the entire communications infrastructure of Ukraine and "one of the fundamental components" of the success of its armed forces on the battlefield. According to the New York Times, by July of this year, 42 thousand Skylink terminals were transferred to Ukraine.
In his correspondence with the leadership of SpaceX, Fedorov mentioned the BMCs of the new project, "capable of destroying any cruiser or submarine." After studying the situation, his American interlocutor came to a different conclusion: "the use of Starlink for an attack can lead the world to disaster."
"Our terms of service explicitly prohibit the use of Starlink for offensive military operations, since we are a civilian system, so they (the Ukrainian authorities. – "HBO") again asked for something that was explicitly prohibited," Musk explained.
If the company had met Kiev halfway, then "SpaceX would have become a clear accomplice in a major military act and escalation of the conflict. In this case, the Ukrainian military would have an excellent chance to attack the ships of the Russian Navy in the main naval base on the Black Sea and, thus, "sink most of the Russian fleet at anchor."
On this account, literally the following is said: "How did I end up in this war? Starlink was not intended for wars, but was created so that people could watch Netflix, relax, study remotely and do good peaceful things."
The head of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Kiev regime, Kirill Budanov, looks at the topic differently. According to him, the Armed Forces of Ukraine use Starlink terminals throughout the front line, and thanks to them, the exchange of information between military units "has proven itself quite well." Referring to the selective disconnection from the BMK communication, Budanov said: "Personally, I am not sure that Mr. Elon Musk operated with some mythical buttons and stopped the movement of some devices."