On the front, the Starlink satellite system is a key tool for kyiv. But the owner of SpaceX has prevented its use to strike a Russian navy base in order to avoid, he says, a “mini Pearl Harbor”.
“Without Starlink, we would have lost the war.” This statement from a Ukrainian military commander, in the columns of Washington Post in July 2022, says a lot about the involvement of Elon Musk’s company in the war in Ukraine. This involvement of the whimsical and controversial American billionaire in the conflict is, however, of variable geometry. The owner of SpaceX, which manages the Starlink satellite service, confirmed on Thursday September 7 that it had prevented a Ukrainian attack on a Russian navy base last year. “If I had accepted their request, SpaceX would have been clearly complicit in a major act of war and an escalation of conflict”he argued on the X platform (formerly Twitter), of which he also owns.
There was an emergency request from government authorities to activate Starlink all the way to Sevastopol.
The obvious intention being to sink most of the Russian fleet at anchor.
If I had agreed to their request, then SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war and…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 7, 2023
What seems like an about-face was revealed by the American journalist Walter Isaacson, author of a biography entitled Elon Musk (ed. Fayard) to be published Wednesday September 13 in France. While attending a football match in New Orleans in September 2022, Walter Isaacson says he received a series of panicked messages from the billionaire. “He was in the middle of a Muskian crisis, in ‘dramatic hero’ mode”writes the author in his book, an extract of which is published by the Washington Post. Elon Musk reports that the Ukrainian army is trying to launch an attack against the Russian fleet based in Sevastopol, in Crimea, territory annexed by Russia in 2014, by sending “six small underwater drones packed with explosives and using Starlink to guide them to the target”.
The Ukrainian general staff deplores its “ignorance”
The tycoon confides that he discussed it with the Russian ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, and that the latter explicitly made him understand that“such an attack would result in a nuclear response”. As pointed out by New York Times, Walter Isaacson does not specify whether Elon Musk was behind the call to the Russian ambassador and whether he revealed the Ukrainian attack plan to him. But the biographer claims that the SpaceX boss consulted Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, and General Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Did these American officials induce him to authorize the attack? A Pentagon spokesperson simply declared, according to AFP, that the Ministry of Defense was “aware and interested in this topic”refusing to communicate everything “operational detail” on Starlink, for security reasons.
Still, according to Walter Isaacson, Elon Musk has “secretly told his engineers to disable coverage within a 100 km radius of the Crimean coast”which caused the attack already in progress to fail.
“If the Ukrainian attacks had succeeded in sinking the Russian fleet, it would have been like a mini Pearl Harbor and would have led to a major escalation.”
Elon Muskin the biography of Walter Isaacson
The American entrepreneur disputed part of the biographer’s account. On Platform X, he argues that Starlink was not “not activated” in the regions in question and that SpaceX therefore has no “not disabled anything”. The decision was, however, welcomed by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. If this story is true, “It appears that Musk is the last sane person in North America”, he commented. Conversely, Mykhaïlo Podoliak, advisor to the Ukrainian presidency, condemned the reaction of the CEO of Tesla. “By not allowing Ukrainian drones to destroy part of the Russian military fleet”Elon Musk allowed this fleet to fire missiles towards Ukrainian cities, which “killed civilians and children”, he denounced on X. “It’s the price of a cocktail of ignorance and big egos.”
A system provided “for humanitarian purposes”
The internet service provided by the Starlink satellite constellation was deployed in Ukraine shortly after its invasion by Russia in February 2022. Widely used by soldiers on the ground, this network is a key tool on the battlefield for Kiev. According to New York Times, Elon Musk has had more than 42,000 Starlink terminals sent to the country, in response to public requests from Ukrainian officials. Their connectivity has been crucial in helping the Ukrainian military coordinate drone strikes and gather intelligence. It was also used by hospitals, businesses and NGOs throughout Ukraine, details the American daily.
Amount of the operation: 80 million dollars (74.6 million euros), according to the billionaire cited by Walter Isaacson in his book. This private investment, while it is supposed to be financed by the American government, has a downside. “It is always a vulnerability to depend on an external actor, whether it is a militia or a private actornotes Isabelle Dufour, director of strategic studies at the Eurocrise agency, In The world. But an army cannot do everything alone. It must make trade-offs between what must remain sovereign and what can be entrusted to a third party. A completely autonomous army has never existed in recent history.”
According to journalist Walter Isaacson, Gwynne Shotwell, the president of SpaceX, however, began to turn her nose up at this gracious financing of the war. “Initially, we provided Ukrainians with free services for humanitarian and defense purposes, including maintaining their hospitals and banking systemsshe explains in the biography. But then they started putting them on drones that were trying to blow up Russian ships.”
“I am happy to donate my services for ambulances, hospitals and mothers. (…) But it is not normal to pay for military drone strikes.”
Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceXin the biography of Walter Isaacson
Asked by AFP, the Pentagon did not explain whether Elon Musk’s actions were acceptable for a US government contractor, nor what measures could be taken in response. SpaceX finally managed to reach a deal with the US and European governments to pay for an additional 100,000 new satellite dishes for Ukraine in early 2023, according to Walter Isaacson.
As for Elon Musk, who “always liked to imagine himself as a hero rushing to the rescue”as his biographer writes, he had proposed his own peace plan on, after having foiled the Ukrainian attack. Supported by a poll, he proposed new referendums in Donbass and other regions controlled by Moscow, acceptance that Crimea is part of Russia and a guarantee that Ukraine remains neutral. Faced with the outcry caused by this initiative, this native of South Africa began to question his role in this conflict. “How am I involved in this war?” he asked Walter Isaacson during a late-night telephone conversation, the latter reports. And to add: “Starlink was not designed to be involved in wars. It was designed so people could watch Netflix and relax, connect to school and do good, peaceful things, not drone strikes.”