A Ukrainian official on Friday ripped X owner Elon Musk for cutting off Starlink satellite access over Crimea last year to thwart a Ukrainian attack on Russian warships.
"Sometimes a mistake is much more than just a mistake. By not allowing Ukrainian drones to destroy part of the Russian military (!) fleet via #Starlink interference, @elonmusk allowed this fleet to fire Kalibr missiles at Ukrainian cities," Mykhailo Podolyak, a top aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Thursday on X, formerly known as Twitter.
"As a result, civilians, children are being killed. This is the price of a cocktail of ignorance and big ego. However, the question still remains: why do some people so desperately want to defend war criminals and their desire to commit murder? And do they now realize that they are committing evil and encouraging evil?"
A new biography of Musk, written by Walter Isaacson, says the billionaire had a change of heart after providing Starlink terminals to Ukraine for fear of starting a nuclear war.
"Starlink was not meant to be involved in wars. It was so people can watch Netflix and chill and get online for school and do good peaceful things, not drone strikes," Musk reportedly said.
Musk in a Thursday tweet said the Starlink regions in question "were not activated."
"SpaceX did not deactivate anything."
He added: "Both sides should agree to a truce. Every day that passes, more Ukrainian and Russian youth die to gain and lose small pieces of land, with borders barely changing. This is not worth their lives."