this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2024
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Ukraine

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188
First surface vessel attack on Crimea failed as Musk turned off connection (www.pravda.com.ua)
submitted 2 years ago by lesserprophet@lemmy.world to c/ukraine@sopuli.xyz
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[–] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 27 points 2 years ago (3 children)

I've heard a couple versions of this story. One is the story in the post, the other is that Crimea was not covered by Starlink, and Ukraine tried to get it covered and Musk wouldn't.

Do we have a definitive source that can speak to which occurred?

[–] rsuri@lemmy.world 26 points 2 years ago (1 children)

From what I can gather from various sources (most detailed one here: https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-admits-thwarting-ukraine-attack-not-activating-starlink-satellites-2023-9?op=1)

  1. Elon's biographer Isaacson says he turned it off as the Ukrainian ships were approaching Sevastopol, following a call with the Russian ambassador who he told about it(!!?), resulting in a nuclear threat. Ukrainians begged him to turn it back on and he refuses.
  2. Elon has denied the first part, saying it was never turned on, only acknowledging the call to turn it on and his refusal to do so.

I'm not sure which to believe. Isaacson's account is detailed and I doubt it's made up, but perhaps he misunderstood something. At the same time, turning it off seems to require Elon to have foreknowledge of the attack which seems unlikely, though plausible.

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Issac corrected the story and said he was wrong. His stance is it was never on. Musk refused to turn it on.

So either Issac got it wrong and the correction is legit. Or Issac is now covering his ass and willing to lie, and lying would be bad for his credibility.

[–] massive_bereavement@kbin.social 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Musk's official biographer explained that there was a point where he had to take a decision of either allow it or not, and a Russian official discouraged it on the basis that there would be a nuclear escalation.

Allegedly, someone in a 5 point building got super pissed by the fact that a rich guy got to call it off, jumping over them and the Prez himself.

[–] FaceDeer@kbin.social 2 points 2 years ago

The DoD has since signed contracts with Starlink for service. But they hadn't at the time yet so I don't see why the Pentagon or American president would be involved in the decision.