Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of Twitter, looks on as he attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre in Paris, France, June 16, 2023.
Gonzalo Fuentes | Reuters
Author Walter Isaacson sparked controversy when an excerpt from his upcoming book, “Elon Musk,” described how Musk allegedly interfered with a Ukrainian attack on Russian warships. Isaacson took to social media to address the backlash and provide further details.
According to Isaacson’s book, Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, ordered engineers to shut off Starlink’s satellite network over Crimea last year. The purpose was to disrupt a Ukrainian military initiative in the early days of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Isaacson’s book portrays Musk’s concerns about the Ukrainian attack escalating into a nuclear war. Musk later stated that “Starlink was not meant to be involved in wars.”
In a late Friday post on X (formerly known as Twitter), Isaacson clarified that the Ukrainians believed Starlink coverage extended to Crimea, but it was not enabled. They requested Musk to enable it for their drone attack on the Russian fleet, which Musk declined to avoid the risk of a major war.
Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, houses Russia’s Black Sea warships. Following Russia’s invasion in February 2022, the Black Sea fleet launched missiles on Ukrainian coastal cities and imposed a devastating naval blockade.
In a second post on Saturday, Isaacson admitted his mistake in thinking that Musk made the decision to shut off Starlink’s satellite network on the night of the attack. Isaacson clarified that Musk had implemented the policy earlier, but the Ukrainians were unaware of it.
After CNN reported on the details from Isaacson’s book, a top aide to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized Musk for not allowing Ukrainian drones to destroy part of the Russian military fleet via Starlink interference. The aide argued that this decision resulted in the death of civilians and children.
Isaacson’s complete book is set to be released on Tuesday.
Read the full excerpt about Starlink and Ukraine in the Washington Post.
— CNBC’s Amanda Macias contributed to this report.
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