Musk was asked if his ego cost the lives of Ukrainians - video

As Musk left the Federal Aviation Administration building in Washington, a Sky News reporter asked whether his ignorance and hypocrisy had cost Ukrainians their lives. Musk did not respond. He also did not answer the question whether he appreciated Russian dictator Putin's praise.

On September 7, CNN reported, citing an excerpt from Musk's new biography by Walter Isaacson, that in 2022, the businessman secretly ordered his engineers to turn off Starlink near the coast of occupied Crimea to thwart an attack by the Defense Forces in Russia's Black Sea Fleet.

According to his biographer, Musk was afraid that the aggressor country, Russia, would respond to the attack with a “nuclear weapon.”

Soon, Musk stated that he did not turn off the satellite network because it was not activated there, but he did not agree to connect it there for Ukraine. According to him, he would become an "accomplice in a great act of war." Musk stated that he is a US citizen and does not consider himself a traitor because of his decision.

The billionaire later claimed that, at Ukraine's request, he refused to turn on Starlink in occupied Crimea because of "US sanctions against Russia."

On the night of September 13, as a result of a successful attack by the Defense Forces on the docks in occupied Sevastopol, the Russian large landing ship Minsk and the submarine Rostov-on-Don were damaged. Ukrainian intelligence believes that it is impossible to restore them.

Analysts of the NetBlocks platform recorded a strong international failure in the operation of the SpaceX satellite Internet on the night of September 12-13.

Elon Musk and the war in Ukraine

Let us recall that there was a lot of noise around Musk when, according to CNN, the billionaire's biographer, Walter Isaacson, wrote that, knowing about the planned attack, Musk decided to turn off his network in the area around Crimea. Due to this, Ukrainian maritime drones filled with explosives lost communication and were eventually washed ashore by the sea.

Armed Services Chairman Jack Reed, also a Democrat, added that he was concerned about the issue given that governments have traditionally controlled satellites and presidents have decided what to do with them.

In his opinion, SpaceX cannot be "the last word when it comes to national security."

Musk responds

The billionaire responded to these allegations on the website X, formerly Twitter.

"There was a sudden request from government authorities to activate Starlink all the way to Sevastopol. The obvious intention was to sink most of the Russian fleet at anchor. If I agreed to their request, SpaceX would be a clear accomplice in a serious act of war and escalation of the conflict," he explained.

Musk later added that he is a US citizen and will fight and die in America.

"The United States Congress has not declared war on Russia. If anyone is a traitor, it is those who call me that," he noted.