Ukraine War: Elon Musk Rejects Switching Off Starlink to Stop Sneak Attack on Russia

Elon Musk has rejected allegations that SpaceX disabled Starlink satellite internet during a crucial Ukrainian offensive against Russia. Earlier reports from Western media suggested that this action was taken to stop a secret attack on the Russian naval fleet near the Crimean coast last year.

The allegations emerged from the excerpts of a new book on Musk, written by Walter Isaacson, the author of acclaimed biographies of Steve Jobs and Albert Einstein, The Guardian reported.

The reports also said the Ukrainian submarine drones, armed with explosives, mysteriously lost connectivity as they advanced toward the Russian warships. However, Musk refuted these allegations on X. “The Starlink regions in question were not activated. SpaceX did not deactivate anything,” he said in one of the replies on his X account.

The Tesla CEO also called for the urgent need for a truce between Moscow and Kyiv. “Both sides should agree to a truce. Every day that passes, more Ukrainian and Russian youth die to gain and lose small pieces of land, with borders barely changing. This is not worth their lives,” he added.

Satellite terminals, provided by Musk’s SpaceX, along with means provided by the US government are key for Ukrainian military communications. Last October, Musk had said that his Starlink was the only internet service left in Ukraine, and Russia was actively trying to kill it too.

“Starlink is the only comms system still working at the war front — others are all dead. Russia is actively trying to kill Starlink. To safeguard, SpaceX has diverted massive resources towards defence,” the billionaire wrote on X last year when the platform was still called Twitter.