During Ukraine's decisive attempt to retake territory from Russia in late September 2022, Elon Musk issued an order that nearly derailed the counteroffensive actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and undermined Kyiv's trust in Starlink, the satellite internet service that the billionaire provided at the beginning of the war to help Ukrainian military maintain communication on the battlefield. This is reported by Reuters, writes UNN.
Details
According to three people familiar with the situation, Musk ordered a senior engineer at SpaceX's California office, Musk's company that controls Starlink, to reduce coverage in areas such as Kherson Oblast, a strategically important region north of the Black Sea that Ukraine was trying to retake.
We have to do this
Employees followed the order, deactivating at least one hundred Starlink terminals. This move also affected other Russian-occupied regions, including part of Donetsk Oblast further east.
According to a Ukrainian military official, an advisor to the armed forces, and two other people who experienced Starlink outages near the front line, Ukrainian troops suddenly faced communication disruptions due to Musk's order. Soldiers panicked, drones monitoring Russian troops shut down, and long-range artillery units relying on Starlink for targeting had difficulty hitting targets.
As a result, according to a Ukrainian military official, the Defense Forces failed to encircle Russian positions in the city of Beryslav, east of Kherson, the administrative center of the eponymous region.
The encirclement completely stopped. It failed
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Ultimately, Ukraine, thanks to successful offensive actions, recaptured Beryslav, the city of Kherson, and some additional territories occupied by Russia. But Musk's order, which had not been previously reported, is the first known instance of the billionaire cutting off Starlink coverage over a battlefield during a conflict. This decision shocked some Starlink employees and effectively changed the front line of hostilities, giving Musk the opportunity to "take the outcome of the war into his own hands"
What Musk replied
The Ukrainian command's version is refuted by Musk's account of how he managed the Starlink service in Ukraine during the war. As early as March 2022, in a post on his social media page X, Musk wrote: "We would never do that."
A SpaceX spokesperson stated via email that the news agency's reports were "inaccurate" and directed journalists to a post on X earlier this year in which the company stated: "Starlink is fully committed to providing services to Ukraine." The spokesperson did not specify any inaccuracies in this report and did not respond to a long list of questions regarding the incident, Starlink's role in the war in Ukraine, or other details regarding its operations.
The office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the country's Ministry of Defense did not respond to requests for comment. Starlink still provides services to Ukraine, and the Ukrainian military relies on it for communication. Zelenskyy publicly expressed gratitude to Musk for Starlink earlier this year.
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Starlink and Musk's influence on global security
Musk's order was the first glimpse of the power the magnate now wields in geopolitics and global security thanks to Starlink, a rapidly growing satellite internet service that emerged earlier this decade and now provides connectivity even in remote areas of the world.
Even before Musk briefly served as a financial backer and advisor to US President Donald Trump, Starlink's success – and the unparalleled connectivity it offers across the planet – has given him increasing influence over political leaders, governments, and militaries worldwide.
Musk's influence on military affairs in Washington and beyond – through Starlink's dominance in satellite communications and SpaceX's influence in space launches – has reached a dimension previously limited to sovereign governments, raising concerns among some regulators and lawmakers.
Elon Musk's current global dominance is an example of the dangers of concentrated power in unregulated areas. His control is entirely owned by Musk, who allows his whims to dictate access to vital infrastructure
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