Ukraine blasts Musk over Starlink order; Russia praises his ‘balls’

Ukraine officials are harshly criticizing Elon Musk for his decision to withhold internet access from the Ukrainian military through his Starlink company as Ukraine sought to conduct a strike on Russia in the Crimea peninsula last year.

“By not allowing Ukrainian drones to destroy part of the Russian military fleet via Starlink interference, Elon Musk allowed this fleet to fire Kalibr missiles at Ukrainian cities,” said Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “As a result, civilians, children are being killed. This is the price of a cocktail of ignorance and big ego.”

Musk cut off the access through Starlink, a part of SpaceX that is critical to the Ukraine military’s communication, saying he did so not to be “complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation.”

While the decision was criticized by Ukraine, Musk was praised by some leaders connected to Russian President Vladimir Putin for his decision.

Former Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Musk may be “the last adequate mind in North America,” and “is the one with the balls.”

An upcoming Musk biography details the tech billionaire’s refusal to allow the Ukrainian military to use Starlink internet service for a raid on the Russian navy last year. He confirmed the account Thursday.

The book claims Musk was concerned Russia would respond to an attack on their warships with a nuclear strike. Ukrainian officials begged him to turn the service on, but he refused, it says.

It includes text exchanges between Musk and Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov about the systems. Fedorov told The Financial Times he did not consent to his messages being shared.

“It’s not very pretty,” Fedorov told the outlet. “I’ve never shown or talked about our correspondence publicly.”

Despite the cuts during a crucial offensive, Federov still praised Musk for making Starlink available.

“I think that if he hadn’t done it, it would have been a disaster, we just wouldn’t be able to fight like this if he hadn’t done it,” he said.

Musk’s influence on the war in Ukraine via Starlink has been palpable. The internet system has been credited for assisting Ukraine’s advances, though they have been limited by Musk’s insistence that it not be used on offensive operations into Russia and threats the program would be shut down.

Journalist Kara Swisher said Friday that “several” Ukrainian officials reached out to her for advice on how best to handle Musk. She interviewed Musk multiple times since before his rise as a billionaire.

“I was absolutely gobsmacked that petting a billionaire was what they had to do in the midst of war,” she said.

The Musk biography, by biographer and journalist Walter Isaacson, is set to be released Sept. 12.