Elon Musk revealed that he had refused a Ukrainian request to activate his Starlink satellite network in Crimea's Sevastopol port city last year. This request was reportedly made to aid a potential attack on Russia's fleet stationed in the area, Reuters reported. Musk explained his decision on his social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), stating that he feared that complying with the request would make SpaceX explicitly complicit in a significant act of war and conflict escalation.
Much appreciated, Walter.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 9, 2023
The onus is meaningfully different if I refused to act upon a request from Ukraine vs. made a deliberate change to Starlink to thwart Ukraine.
At no point did I or anyone at SpaceX promise coverage over Crimea.
Moreover, our terms of service clearly… https://t.co/jmNtScM5LY
The decision to deny the request to activate Starlink near the Crimean coast was mentioned in a new biography of Musk by Walter Isaacson. According to the biography, Musk's concern was driven by a fear that Russia might respond to a Ukrainian attack with nuclear weapons, which he referred to as a potential "mini-Pearl Harbor" scenario.
Russia had annexed Crimea in 2014 and established its Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol. The region has been a point of tension between Russia and Ukraine, with the Russian fleet blockading Ukrainian ports since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.
SpaceX had been providing Starlink internet service to Ukrainians and the country's military through private donations and a contract with a U.S. foreign aid agency since the conflict began in 2022. The Pentagon had also acknowledged SpaceX's involvement in providing satellite services for Ukraine.
While Musk's decision to deny the request was driven by concerns of potential conflict escalation, Ukrainian officials have not directly confirmed whether Musk indeed declined the request. However, they have expressed the need to investigate the matter further.
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