In order to..., Musk secretly closed the Star Chain
According to a report on the CNN website on the 7th, the latest biography of American billionaire Elon Musk revealed that Musk secretly ordered his engineers to shut down the Starlink satellite communication network service near the Crimean coast last year in order to disrupt a surprise attack by Ukraine on the Russian naval fleet.
According to the report, an excerpt from this latest biography shows that as Ukrainian unmanned submarines loaded with explosives approached the Russian fleet, the Starlink satellite communication network was shut down, and these unmanned submarines "lost contact and were safely washed ashore.".
According to biographer Walter Isaacson, Musk's decision led Ukrainian officials to beg him to restore the "Star Chain" network, and Musk made this decision because he was concerned that Russia would retaliate against Ukraine's attack on Crimea. The conversation with senior Russian officials fueled Musk's concern. This biography will be published on September 12th.
The report pointed out that Musk's concern about the so-called "mini Pearl Harbor incident" did not occur in Crimea. But this event revealed Musk's unique position in the Ukrainian war. Whether intentional or unintentional, he has become a force that American officials cannot ignore.
After the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in February 2022, Musk agreed to provide Ukraine with "Star Chain" satellite terminals, which is crucial to Ukraine's military operations. Even when mobile phones and Internet networks were destroyed, the "Star Chain" terminal also enabled the Ukrainian army to fight and remain connected.
However, when Ukraine began using the "Star Chain" terminal to launch an attack on Russia, Musk began to hesitate about this decision.
According to reports, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Mikhail Fedorov once contacted Musk via text message, requesting him to restore the network connection of Ukrainian underwater unmanned vehicles.
According to Isaacson, Musk replied that he was impressed by the design of unmanned submersibles, but he would not restore satellite coverage to Crimea because Ukraine "is going too far now and will incur strategic failure.".