Scott Kelly, NASA’s record-breaking astronaut, took to Twitter to try to convince Elon Musk to allow the Ukrainian military to use Starlink. But Musk thinks that would be dangerous.
SpaceX recently announced that it will restrict the Ukrainian military’s access to the Starlink system. The decision is justified by the fact that the agreement with Kyiv did not include the use of the Internet for military purposes, reports hvg.hu.
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly responded on Twitter and wrote that defense against occupation is not the same as an attack, Ukraine is not using the system for aggression. According to him, Musk is playing with the lives of innocent people if he deprives the Ukrainian army of access to the system.
.@elonmusk Ukraine desperately needs your continued support. Please restore the full functionality of your Starlink satellites. Defense from a genocidal invasion is not an offensive capability. It’s survival. Innocent lives will be lost. You can help. Thank you.
— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) February 11, 2023
Musk indicated that Starlink would continue to be the backbone of the communication network in Ukraine, but
we will not enable escalation of conflict that may lead to WW3.
Since the beginning of the war, the Ukrainian army has been able to coordinate drone reconnaissance and strikes with them through Starlink. At the beginning of the Russian invasion, Musk’s company gave Ukraine access to the system because the Russians were the first to attack the communications infrastructure.
