Musk reposts tweet calling Starlink service for Ukraine 'mistake'
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U.S. billionaire and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk amplified a social media post saying it was a "mistake" to give Ukraine access to Starlink terminals during Russia's full-scale invasion.
The post came after President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized Musk's outsized political influence in an interview with the German television program ZDF Magazin Royale.
"There is too much power in the hands of one very wealthy person. Such a concentration of power is dangerous," Zelensky said on Nov. 5.
That same day, Musk reposted a critique of Zelensky's comment on X, the social media platform he owns. Instead of directly addressing Zelensky's point about Musk's extreme wealth, the post argues that Ukraine should not have been given access to Starlink satellites.
"In hindsight, it was a mistake for SpaceX to send (Ukraine) thousands of free Starlink dishes and millions of dollars a month in free service at the beginning of the war," the post reads.
"What started as internet access for civilians became the backbone for autonomous killing drones. And now if they don't support military use, they get skewered for it in the press."
Musk amplified the post without comment.
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Ukraine widely uses both commercial Starlink terminals and their militarized version, Starshield. In mid-October, a speed cap on Ukraine's Starshield service was implemented without warning, disrupting the military's ability to intercept Russian jet-powered drones.
Musk refused to take responsibility for the decision, though he publicly accused Ukraine of violating terms of service by using commercial Starlink terminals to carry out offensive drone strikes.
Ukraine rejected Musk's accusations, saying it uses Starshield systems only to support combat operations against Russian forces within Ukrainian territory. Kyiv also said that commercial Starlink services do not operate inside Russia and therefore cannot be used to strike Russian territory.
While Ukraine's Starshield has now been restored to full speed, the prolonged throttling of the crucial military system cost civilian lives, Zelensky said.
The Pentagon's watchdog rejected a bipartisan appeal from U.S. senators to investigate the Starlink/Starshield disruption.
Musk, the richest man in the world, has played an active role in U.S. President Donald Trump's second administration, taking the lead on gutting government agencies and life-saving foreign aid programs as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The businessman also spent nearly half a billion dollars backing Republican candidates in the recent midterm elections — a record-breaking expenditure. Despite the enormous sum, Democrats swept the midterms, winning control of both houses of Congress.
Many Democrat lawmakers have pledged to investigate Musk's businesses and government ties as part of their political agenda.
