Shillong, September 8: Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, disclosed on Friday that he declined an emergency request from government authorities to enable SpaceX’s Starlink internet service to cover Sevastopol in Crimea, a significant Black Sea port, in an apparent effort to target Russian ships.
As per IANS, Musk clarified, “There was an emergency request from government authorities to activate Starlink all the way to Sevastopol” without specifying the Ukrainian government. He explained that the request’s apparent intent was to target the Russian fleet anchored there. However, Musk refused to comply, citing concerns about SpaceX becoming involved in a major act of war and conflict escalation.
He emphasized that the Starlink service in the specified regions remained inactive, and SpaceX did not deactivate any services. Musk called for both sides to agree to a truce, expressing his concern for the loss of lives among Ukrainian and Russian youth in the ongoing conflict, where territorial changes are minimal.
Musk reiterated his call for Russia and Ukraine to reach a ceasefire, as the conflict continues to claim the lives of young people on both sides. He also highlighted that last year, he had mentioned Starlink as the sole functioning internet service in Ukraine, and Russia had actively attempted to disrupt it.
He tweeted, “Starlink is the only comms system still working at the warfront — others are all dead. Russia is actively trying to kill Starlink. To safeguard, SpaceX has diverted massive resources towards defense.”
