The Conversation (0)
Greg Evans
Feb 13, 2023
Elon Musk made nearly $12bn of Tesla money in a week
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Elon Musk has once again waded into the discussion revolving around Russia's invasion of Ukraine by stating that he does not want to "enable the escalation of a conflict that may lead to WWIII."
The conflict in Ukraine is approaching its first one-year anniversary this month and Musk has been one of the most outspoken and arguably powerful individuals to comment on the matter.
Since the war started Musk has shown support for Ukraine and has also provided them with access to Starlink, SpaceX's satellite internet service to help bolster the fight against Russia.
However, there has since been a number of controversies surrounding Ukraine and Starlink. In October 2022, Musk appeared to suggest that he was going to pull Ukraine's access to Starlink as it will no longer be free and reportedly told the Pentagon to pay for it.
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Musk eventually decided to keep Starlink running in Ukraine but fresh reports have stated that it will now be limited again after reports from Kyiv claim that the service was used to control drones.
The South African billionaire doubled down on this stance on Saturday. During a conversation on Twitter, the tech mogul was asked by former Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly to fully restore Starlink's connection to Ukraine. Kelly wrote: "@elonmusk Ukraine desperately needs your continued support. Please restore the full functionality of your Starlink satellites. Defense from a genocidal invasion is not an offensive capability. It’s survival. Innocent lives will be lost. You can help. Thank you."
In response, Musk took a firm stance and suggested that he didn't want to make the conflict any bigger than it already was. The 51-year-old bluntly said: "You’re smart enough not to swallow media & other propaganda bs. Starlink is the communication backbone of Ukraine, especially at the front lines, where almost all other Internet connectivity has been destroyed. But we will not enable escalation of a conflict that may lead to WW3."
\u201c@StationCDRKelly You\u2019re smart enough not to swallow media & other propaganda bs.\n\nStarlink is the communication backbone of Ukraine, especially at the front lines, where almost all other Internet connectivity has been destroyed.\n\nBut we will not enable escalation of conflict that may lead to WW3.\u201d— Scott Kelly (@Scott Kelly) 1676092153
In January, Musk affirmed his stance around Starlink being used for drones, writing: "We are not allowing Starlink to be used for long-range drone strikes."
\u201c@BillyM2k @Gerashchenko_en SpaceX Starlink has become the connectivity backbone of Ukraine all the way up to the front lines. This is the damned if you do part. \n\nHowever, we are not allowing Starlink to be used for long-range drone strikes. This is the damned if you don\u2019t part.\u201d— Anton Gerashchenko (@Anton Gerashchenko) 1675097580
This is hardly the first time that relationships between Musk and Ukraine have been tested. In October he was told to "f**k off" by Ukraine's ambassador to Germany Andrij Melnyk, after running a Twitter poll that suggested that Crimea becomes a formal part of Russia.
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