‘If Starlink hadn’t existed…’: Elon Musk’s defense against ‘had contact with Putin’s accusations | World news

Tesla CEO Elon Musk issued a clarification against media reports accusing him of supporting Russia in its war against Ukraine, claiming that had it not been for Starlink, Kiev would have been overrun on the first day of the conflict.

The billionaire further claimed that expanding military support to Ukraine came at the expense of potential physical and military support cyber attacks on SpaceX but he continued to support the war-torn country.

“A major factor in why Ukraine was NOT overrun by Russia is the Starlink support I provided, at great risk to SpaceX’s cyber and physical attacks by Russian forces. Starlink is the BACKGROUND of Ukrainian military communications on the front lines, because everything else has been blown up or blocked by Russia,” Musk wrote on X.

The tech business mogul also added links and sources confirming that he was a Ukrainian ally and supported them in their military operation against Russia.

Notably, Musk, who expressed direct support for Ukraine in most of his public statements, also provided one of the most crucial resources on the battlefield; internet access. Musk donated several hundred Starlink terminals to Ukraine.

War between Russia and Ukraine: accusations against Elon Musk

Musk responded to media reports, particularly the claim from the Wall Street Journal, which Musk has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid Russia’s war with Ukraine.

The WSJ also reported that the nature of the talks raises potential national security concerns for some in the current administration.

The said report quoted several sitting and former US, European and Russian officials as claiming that the conversations between Musk and another man ranged from personal to geopolitical and included a request from the Russian leader not to activate his Starlink satellite internet service through Taiwan as a favor to Chinese leader and Putin ally Xi Jinping.

Donald Trump on Putin’s accusations against Musk

Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump said he was not aware that Elon Musk had been in contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022.

When asked by a reporter during a campaign, the Republican presidential candidate said, “No, I don’t know. Elon is a great guy. He is one of our geniuses. And we must protect our geniuses. of our geniuses. There aren’t that many.”