‘If it wasn’t for Starlink…': Elon Musk's defence against ‘was in touch with Putin’ allegations
Musk, who voiced his direct support for Kyiv, donated several hundred Starlink terminals to Ukraine amid war with Russia.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk issued a clarification against media reports accusing him of supporting Russia in its war against Ukraine claiming that if it wasn't for Starlink, Kyiv would have been overrun on day one of the conflict.
The billionaire further claimed that extending military support to Ukraine was at the expense of possible physical and cyber attacks on SpaceX but he continued to back the war-torn country.
"A major factor for why Ukraine was NOT overrun by Russia is the Starlink support I provided, at great risk to SpaceX cyber & physical attack by Russian military forces. Starlink is the BACKBONE of Ukrainian military communications at the front lines because everything else has been blown up or jammed by Russia," Musk wrote on X.
The tech business tycoon also added links and sources confirming that he was a Ukrainian ally and stood with them in their military operation against Russia.
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Notably, Musk, who voiced his direct support for Ukraine in most of his public statements, also provided one of its most critical battlefield resources; internet access. Musk donated several hundred Starlink terminals to Ukraine.
Russia-Ukraine war: Allegations against Elon Musk
Musk was responding to media reports, particularly, the Wall Street Journal's claim that 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 conversations raises potential national security concerns for some in the current administration.
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The said report cited several incumbent and former US, European and Russian officials 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 over Taiwan as a favour to the Chinese leader and Putin ally, Xi Jinping.
Donald Trump on Putin allegations against Musk
Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump said he didn't know Elon Musk had been in contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022.
On being asked by a reporter during a campaign, the GOP presidential nominee said, "No, I don't know. Elon is a great guy. He's one of our geniuses. And we have to protect our geniuses. We have to take care of our geniuses. There aren't too many of them."