LONDON, July 25. /TASS/. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk ordered a shutdown of the Starlink satellite communications system in Ukraine at the end of September 2022, disrupting Kiev's counteroffensive on the frontlines, Reuters news agency reported, citing sources.
According to it, Musk ordered a senior engineer at the SpaceX office in California to turn off at least a hundred terminals, which affected Kherson and part of the Donetsk Region. Ukrainian army representatives said they faced the consequences of a communications blackout near the front line.
The decision shocked some Starlink employees and effectively reshaped the front line of the fighting, enabling Musk to take "the outcome of a war into his own hands," Reuters said.
The entrepreneur, the administration of Vladimir Zelensky and the Ukrainian Defense Ministry declined to comment, Reuters writes.
Global satellite communications system Starlink was developed by SpaceX, founded in 2002 by Musk. The Starlink system is designed to provide Internet access to users around the world by deploying a large number of small satellites in low-Earth orbit. The service is actively used by the Ukrainian military to maintain communication.