“More than a hundred missiles have attacked Ukraine’s energy and communications infrastructure,” Ukraine’s Digital Minister Mykhailo Fedorov tweeted on Wednesday evening, two days after the start of Russia’s largest-ever wave of airstrikes on Ukraine. “But with Starlink, we quickly restored connectivity in critical areas. Starlink continues to be an essential part of our critical infrastructure.” A minute later, Elon Musk, the founder and main owner of the satellite network, replied: “I’m happy to support Ukraine.”
Both statements come against the background of considerable irritation between the government in Kyiv and the richest man in the world. Immediately after the Russian attack on Ukraine in February, there was already a dialogue between the Ukrainian minister and Musk on Twitter. At that time, Fedorov asked Musk in a dramatic appeal to make Starlink available to the Ukrainians. Two days later, Fedorov was able to announce that the first receivers for Internet access via satellite had arrived in Ukraine. They played a major role in the successful defense of Kyiv: thanks to Starlink, Ukrainian troops were able to stay in touch with each other, even though the Russian army had largely destroyed Ukraine’s communications infrastructure.
“Peace Plan” shakes hero status
As the war progressed, Starlink gave the Ukrainian troops an advantage over the attackers, and not just in terms of communication. Starlink has also been used for battlefield reconnaissance, directing artillery fire, and deploying drones. And also for the civil administration of Ukraine Starlink has become vital.
The hero status that Elon Musk has enjoyed among many Ukrainians was shaken in early October when he tweeted a “peace plan” for Ukraine. After that, the mock referendums on the annexation of the occupied territories to Russia should be repeated under the supervision of the United Nations; Crimea, annexed in 2014, should formally remain part of Russia; and Ukraine should remain neutral. In Ukraine, the proposal caused outrage, while in Russia it was greeted with satisfaction. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Musk’s proposals were a “positive fact” and “deserve attention.” However, Peskov’s statements also indirectly made it clear why advances like Musk’s are ignoring reality: Peace would not be possible without fulfilling Russia’s demands, Peskov said, and repeating the “referendums” was out of the question.
While disappointment, anger and mockery of Musk spread on social media in Ukraine, the Ukrainian leadership was conspicuously reluctant to criticize. Starlink is so important for Ukraine that you have to be careful with statements before you know for sure what is behind Musk’s statements, said presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych. The clearest reaction came from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who let his followers on Twitter vote on which Elon Musk they like better: the one who supports Ukraine or the one who supports Russia? The answer was 79 to 21 percent in the sense of Zelenskyj. Musk replied to Zelenskyy: “I continue to support Ukraine very much, but I am convinced that a massive escalation of the war would cause great harm to Ukraine and perhaps to the world.”
Musk justified his statements with the risk of nuclear war. Reports that he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin shortly before the “peace plan” tweet were denied by both Musk himself and the Kremlin. However, suspicions that the American billionaire could reduce its support for Ukraine or even switch sides were also fueled by a report in the Financial Times newspaper last week, according to which Ukrainian troops in particularly competitive sectors of the front had suffered from Starlink failures.
