Tory defence chief blasts 'unhelpful' Elon Musk for foiling Ukrainian attack

02 October 2023 , 13:51

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Elon Musk is chief executive of SpaceX (Image: Getty Images)

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps today blasted “unhelpful” billionaire Elon Musk over Ukraine.

The tech entrepreneur, who owns X, formerly Twitter, was revealed to have thwarted a Ukrainian attack on Russia’s Black Sea fleet. He foiled a daring assault by refusing to give Kyiv access to his Starlink communications network over Crimea.

Kyiv had sent an emergency request to activate Starlink to Sevastopol, home to a major Russian navy port. But he admitted blocking the request to avoid complicity in a "major act of war". Mr Musk also sparked anger in Ukraine by posting an internet meme showing a photoshopped image of Mr Zelenksy alongside the caption: “When it's been 5 minutes and you haven't asked for a billion dollars in aid.”

Mr Shapps told a Conservative Home fringe event at the Tory Party conference in Manchester: “I think it’s unhelpful, to be blunt.”

Grant Shapps was addressing a fringe event at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester (James Veysey/REX/Shutterstock)

Ukraine had targeted Russian ships at anchor in Sevastopol with submarine drones carrying explosives. But the unmanned kit lost connection to Starlink and washed ashore harmlessly, according to reports. Starlink terminals connect to SpaceX satellites in orbit and have been vital for maintaining internet connectivity and communication in Ukraine.

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SpaceX, in which Mr Musk is the largest shareholder, began providing thousands of Starlink satellite dishes to Ukraine shortly after Russia waged war in February last year. “I thought it was very welcome, his initial stance and then he withdrew the capacity from Starlink to our Ukrainian friends,” Mr Shapps said.

“I can't speak for him or his motivations - he’s a free individual living in a free world, he can tweet, or X, whatever he likes. What Ukraine really needs is strong and steady friends who don’t waver; that is what you need when you are alone, the only country being attacked.”

Mr Musk said previously that SpaceX "did not deactivate anything" because it had not been activated in those regions in the first place. "There was an emergency request from government authorities to activate Starlink all the way to Sevastopol. The obvious intent being to sink most of the Russian fleet at anchor," he said. "If I had agreed to their request, then SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation."

Ben Glaze