Elon Musk derailed Ukraine counter-offensive and shut down Starlink network to prevent ‘mini-Pearl Harbor,’ book claims

Elon Musk thwarted a Ukrainian underwater drone attack on a Russian naval fleet last year by shutting down his Starlink satellite internet network near the coast of Crimea to prevent a “mini-Pearl Harbor,” a biography of the billionaire claims.

Musk, 52, thought the Kremlin would respond to the attack with nuclear weapons, a fear based on conversations he had with top Russian officials, according to an excerpt from Walter Isaacson’s “Elon Musk,” CNN reported Thursday.

When Ukrainian underwater drones carrying bombs approached the ships, they “lost connectivity and were washed ashore harmlessly,” Isaacson wrote, according to the network.

Ukrainian officials then begged the SpaceX founder to back off his satellite internet constellation, the book reports.

The book will be out next week.

Isaacson reportedly wrote that Musk spoke with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, and the Russian ambassador to the United States to address anxieties from Washington to Moscow.

Elon Musk shut down his Starlink network to dispel a Ukrainian attack on a Russian fleet, a new book reports. NurPhoto via Getty Images
The Starlink network was shut down when unmanned Ukrainian marine drones approached Russian ships off the Crimean coast. The Starlink network was shut down when unmanned Ukrainian marine drones approached Russian ships off the coast of Crimea. Security Service of Ukraine
Satellite image of a Russian ship in the port of Sevastopol in Crimea.A satellite image of a Russian ship in the port of Sevastopol in Crimea. Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies via AP

Musk had agreed to provide Ukraine with Starlink satellite terminals after Russia disrupted the country’s communications system before invading former Soviet territory in February 2022, but began to have an “existential fear” of escalating the bloodshed by contributing to the counterattacks, according to the volume.

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“How am I doing in this war?” Musk reportedly asked Isaacson. “Starlink was not meant to participate in wars. “It was so people could watch Netflix, relax, go online to go to school and do good, peaceful things, not drone attacks.”

walter isaacson biography "Elon Musk" It will hit stores on September 12.Walter Isaacson’s biography “Elon Musk” will hit stores on September 12. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo/File Photo

In October 2022, Musk said he would no longer pay for his Starlink satellite internet service to operate in Ukraine after officials criticized his controversial proposal for Ukraine to end the war by granting Crimea to Russia and remaining neutral, but he never followed through on his promise. threat.

He had pitched his peace solution as a poll on his newly acquired Twitter platform (now renamed X), which drew praise from the Kremlin and scorn from Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who created his own Twitter poll asking users if they preferred a pro-Russian party. Musk or a pro-Ukraine version of the tech boss.

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Source: vtt.edu.vn

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