Musk Denies Ukraine Use of Starlink Over Fears of Nuclear War
(TheRedWire.com) – As Russia approaches the eight-month mark since its invasion of Ukraine, it appears to be losing territory it claims to have annexed on October 5. The success of the Ukrainian military is sparking concern that Russian President Vladimir Putin may use tactical nuclear weapons to push the Ukrainian armed forces back. Recently, billionaire Elon Musk rejected a request by Ukraine to extend satellite service to Crimea. On Tuesday, October 11, political analyst Ian Bremmer claimed the tech mogul fears triggering a nuclear war by extending service to Crimea.
In February, Musk and the US government gave Ukraine thousands of Starlink satellite systems, allowing the military to communicate in dead zones and operate reconnaissance drones to gather intelligence on Russian military movements and attack them. Now, officials in Kyiv say Starlink is experiencing outages. Bremmer reportedly confirmed it was purposely disabled.
Elon Musk blocked Ukraine from using Starlink in Crimea over concern that Putin could use nuclear weapons, political analyst says https://t.co/EqFvS2GuU0 via @businessinsider
— Philipp Kloeckner (@pip_net) October 13, 2022
Bremmer said Musk informed him the Ukrainians wanted to activate the Starlink system in Crimea, but the tech mogul rejected it over potential nuclear retaliation. The influential analyst added that the entrepreneur told him he spoke with Putin, who threatened nuclear war if Kyiv attempted to retake Crimea.
Musk denied the report and said he hadn’t talked with Putin in 18 months. Bremmer remains insistent the conversation took place.
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