Ukrainian presidential adviser says deaths of civilians ‘the price of a cocktail of ignorance and big ego’
A senior Ukrainian official has accused Elon Musk of “committing evil” after a new biography revealed details about how the business magnate ordered his Starlink satellite communications network to be turned off near the Crimean coast last year to hobble a Ukrainian drone attack on Russian warships.
In a statement on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, which Musk owns, the Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak wrote that Musk’s interference led to the deaths of civilians, calling them “the price of a cocktail of ignorance and big ego”.
“By not allowing Ukrainian drones to destroy part of the Russian fleet via Starlink interference, @elonmusk allowed this fleet to fire Kalibr missiles at Ukrainian cities. As a result, civilians, and children are being killed,” Podolyak wrote.
“Why do some people so desperately want to defend war criminals and their desire to commit murder? And do they now realise that they are committing evil and encouraging evil?”
Musk defended his decision, saying he did not want his SpaceX company to be “explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation”.
CNN on Thursday quoted an excerpt from the biography Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson, which described how armed submarine drones were approaching a Russian fleet near the Crimean coast when they “lost connectivity and washed ashore harmlessly”.
The biography, due out on Tuesday, alleges Musk ordered Starlink engineers to turn off the service in the area of the attack because of his concern that Vladimir Putin would respond with nuclear weapons to a Ukrainian attack on Russian-occupied Crimea.
Musk, who is also the CEO of the Tesla electric car company and SpaceX rocket and spacecraft manufacturer, initially agreed to supply Starlink hardware to Ukraine after Russia’s full-scale invasion disrupted Ukrainian communications. But he reportedly had second thoughts after Kyiv succeeded in repelling the initial Russian assault and began to counterattack.
Musk has previously been embroiled in a social media spat with Ukrainian officials including the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, over his ideas for ending Russia’s invasion.
In October last year, Musk proposed a peace deal involving re-running under UN supervision annexation referendums in Moscow-occupied Ukrainian regions, acknowledging Russian sovereignty over the Crimean peninsula and giving Ukraine a neutral status.
“Preliminary analysis suggests that the reach and influence of Kremlin-backed accounts has grown further in the first half of 2023, driven in particular by the dismantling of Twitter’s safety standards.
The EU has also accused Musk’s X of allowing Russian propaganda about Ukraine to spread on its website.
A study released last week by the European Commission, the governing body of the European Union, found that “the reach and influence of Kremlin-backed accounts has grown further in the first half of 2023.”
The study said that the increased reach of Russian propaganda online was “largely driven by Twitter, where engagement grew by 36% after CEO Elon Musk decided to lift mitigation measures on Kremlin-backed accounts”.
Musk on Friday attempted to refute the EU study, writing on his social media platform: “Where is all this pro-Russian propaganda? We don’t see it.”
archive: https://archive.ph/wip/ENe3P
How dare Elon Musk not be complicit in an act of war! Harumph, I say!
He’s complicit for the Ukrainian lives lost because those warships are still operational.
Interesting that people claiming to be for peace think destroying weapons used to kill people would be a bad thing.
I see you’ve upset the collective.
Do you think you’re smart labeling self defense an act of war?
Next time you see somebody getting bullied be sure to step in and tell them to stop engaging in bullying.
So was the bomb dropped on Hiroshima an act of war or self defense? Bullying≠two nations at war. The aggressor doesn’t matter.
Are you actually comparing allowing a military to use satellite internet to using an atomic bomb?
I compared military action to military action per the terms layed out. I didn’t call the use of the system military action the others did.
Whatabouism denied. Stay on topic or fuck off.
I compared military action to military action per the terms layed out. I didn’t call the use of the system military action the others did. Buzz word use denied,come up with a point or fuck off.
Lol u mad
Bro so are you lol
Hiroshima was wrong because it attacked civilians. This was an attack on a threatening military site. Those warships they were striking now have potential to kill Ukraine civilians.
Military targets are always fair game in war. Civilian cities are not. Your comparison is not the same
See there, that’s actual response based with some intellect. I certainly would agree that the target is important, but then the rules of war arbitrary and war eventually will lead to total warfare given enough time where military and civilian targets are acceptable. I only make this claim as even the good guys will eventually hit civilian targets.
Eventually yes, and depending on the scenario it deserves the criticism. But this was an attack on a warship that was in open waters. The chance to hit a civilian was very slim.
War will escalate. Total warfare is probably inevitable already. Russia attacked Ukraine. Any retaliation on a military target is acceptable until Russia forfeits everything Ukraine lost and pays reparations to rebuild what they destroyed.
Personally I think this will escalate to NATO eventually. I don’t want it to, but Russia is pushing its boundaries further and scaring a lot of people. At some point someone is going to have to declare war on Russia instead of waiting for Russia to do the same to them. People will die. It’s unfortunate. I wish it wouldn’t happen but I don’t think Russia will let it not happen. And the ball is in Russia’s court because the bar for not killing people is “don’t invade other countries” which is a pretty low bar to set.