Elon Musk—Musk refused to enable Starlink near Crimea during Ukrainian drone attack on Russian fleet
In late 2022, Musk secretly ordered engineers not to enable Starlink satellite connectivity near the Crimean coast, disrupting a Ukrainian submarine drone attack on the Russian naval fleet. The drones lost connectivity and washed ashore harmlessly. Musk said he feared Russia would respond with nuclear weapons. Ukrainian officials begged him to restore service. Musk claimed Starlink was never active over Crimea and that Ukraine made an 'emergency request' to activate it to Sevastopol. The incident highlighted the risks of one individual controlling critical military communications infrastructure.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Infrastructure Accountability | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.858 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.57)
Evidence (1 signal)
CNN and Isaacson biography detailed Musk's secret order to disable Starlink near Crimea
Walter Isaacson's biography of Musk, reported by CNN in September 2023, revealed that Musk secretly ordered engineers not to enable Starlink near Crimea during a Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian fleet. Ukrainian submarine drones lost connectivity and washed ashore. Musk feared Russia would respond with nuclear weapons. Musk later disputed the account, claiming Starlink was never active over Crimea.