In recent times, the richest man in the United States and the owner of Space X company has become a celebrity in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. He first put forward four suggestions for Russia-Ukrainian peace negotiations, including recognizing Crimea as Russian territory and allowing four states including Donetsk to hold a new referendum under the supervision of the United Nations. This remark caused strong resistance from Ukraine, and even Ukrainian President Zeliansky personally came to the scene and scolded Musk on social media. After this incident, the " Starlink " terminal equipment used by the Ukrainian army experienced large-scale disconnection, resulting in a large number of Ukrainian troops being easily defeated by the Russian army. This series of events made many Ukrainians think that Musk did not help Ukraine sincerely, so he held a grudge against him. Former Ukrainian ambassador to Germany Andre Melnik even scolded Musk on Twitter, asking him to "get out of the way." Unexpectedly, this abuse actually caused serious consequences.
American businessman Musk said Russia is trying to destroy the Starlink satellite Internet system in Ukraine, which may cease operations, although resources have been invested to protect it.
On October 14, Musk commented on a Twitter that introduced the large-scale disconnection of the Ukrainian Starlink equipment, saying that Space X "is just following Melnik's opinions." Many people believe that Musk is vaguely saying that he may completely cut off the signal of the Ukrainian Starlink equipment because of Melnik's rude words. This comment scared senior Ukrainian government officials in a cold sweat. A few hours later, a large number of senior Ukrainian officials began to flatter Musk. The first one to take action was Mikhail Fedorov, Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Digitalization. He praised Musk as "one of the individuals in the world that provide the greatest support to Ukraine" on social media, and that "Starlinks play an irreplaceable role in Ukraine's infrastructure." Ukrainian Presidential Advisor Mikhail Podolak also followed closely and posted on social media that "Starlink and Musk have helped us through the most critical moment in the war. We hope that Space X can continue to provide a stable signal for Ukraine."
Russian Satellite News Agency Washington October 15 A spokesperson for the US Department of Defense told reporters that Pentagon and Elon Musk's SpaceX company met on the operation of the "Starlink" satellite network in Ukraine, and believed that it is necessary for the local military to continue to use space communication means.
Just a few days ago, many Ukrainian officials also severely criticized Musk, but when Musk hinted that the signal that the Ukrainian military starlink equipment might be completely shut down due to these criticisms, the Ukrainian government quickly admitted defeat and rushed to extend an olive branch to Musk. This behavior of being arrogant at first and being respectful at the end is really a laughing joke. However, as an independent country, Ukraine's military's communication lifeline has to rely on a foreign private enterprise , which is really sad. However, no matter whether the Ukrainian government's attitude is arrogant or humble, Musk has to consider completely stopping the operation of Starlink equipment in Ukraine. According to the Russian Satellite News Agency, on October 15th local time, Musk said on social media that the Russian military is currently stepping up its efforts to crack down on Starlink equipment deployed in Ukraine. Although Space X has invested a lot of resources to protect it, the effect is still not satisfactory.
Previously, CNN TV reported that SpaceX, led by American billionaire Musk, could no longer pay for the maintenance of the "Starlink" satellite communication system in Ukraine, and asked the Pentagon to bear the cost.
According to Observer.com , in July this year, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army called Musk, saying that due to the Russian attack, the Ukrainian army would lose at least 500 Starlink equipment every month, and Space X needed to provide new terminal equipment every month to supplement the losses.At the same time, he also asked Space X to provide another 6,200 Starlink equipment to equip other troops. From this news, it is not difficult to see that although the Russian army has not launched a strike on Space X's satellite , it has destroyed a large number of Starlink terminal equipment. Although Musk has strong financial resources and it is not difficult to provide hundreds of Starlink terminal equipment to the Ukrainian military every month, such behavior is obviously unacceptable for a private enterprise that aims to make a profit. Originally, Musk provided Starlink terminal equipment for Ukraine free or low-cost, with the fundamental purpose of advertising its own equipment. However, as the war continues, advertising is sufficient, so Musk does not need to continue to pay this high "advertising fee".
htmlOn September 25, the "Star Link" equipment in Ijium City, Kharkov Prefecture, Ukraine
So why can the Russian army destroy the Ukrainian star link terminal equipment so efficiently and quickly? The main reason is that a considerable number of Ukrainian troops have low information control capabilities and extremely poor communication discipline. Although the signals sent and received by Starlink's terminal equipment are difficult to intercept, a large number of Ukrainian troops, especially the temporarily pieced together mobilized troops, cannot strictly abide by communication discipline, and use Starlink network to upload battlefield high-definition videos on social media platforms such as Telegram and TikTok without authorization. This allows the Russian army to easily discover the approximate location of the Ukrainian starlink equipment, thereby launching targeted attacks on it. In short, with the prolonged conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the Russian army has gradually found ways to effectively destroy the Starlink terminal, which will make Space X's assistance to Ukraine even more expensive.
continues to support Ukraine now, which is undoubtedly a loss-making deal for Musk. In addition, many media generally believe that the reason why Musk showed up with the US authorities and Ukraine is that he wants to end the Russian-Ukraine war as soon as possible from the perspective of his larger business empire. At the beginning of the conflict, Musk, like most people in the world, believed that Russia could defeat Ukraine in a few weeks or even days. Therefore, Musk provided Ukraine with "Starlink" equipment at an extremely low price and even gave it for free, so as to promote his own company. But now the conflict has been persisted, and it is obviously not in line with Musk's business logic. This also led to the scene where Space X asked the US Department of Defense for money. What's more important is that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has affected Musk's other industries.
Musk has more than one Space X, and there is also a world-renowned new energy vehicle manufacturer Tesla . Previously, media disclosed that on March 22 this year, Tesla spent a huge amount of money to build a super factory in Berlin, Germany, finally started construction. However, due to the soaring price of natural gas and electricity prices, the new factory has been in a loss state since its start. The loss amount once reached billions of dollars, and even had to stop production and rectify. In addition to new energy vehicles, Musk's space exploration business and Internet construction business must also develop effectively in a stable and peaceful international environment. Nowadays, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict is protracted and there is a trend of further escalation. If Musk continues to provide assistance to Ukraine, it will inevitably cause greater damage to its entire industrial chain!
In fact, from an objective perspective, whether the Ukrainian army can continue to use Starlink equipment in the future depends to a large extent on whether the Pentagon is willing to "compensate" Musk. If the US Department of Defense is willing to pay for the expenses of Starlink equipment and its services, the Ukrainian army can continue to use this communication system. But if the Pentagon and Musk fail to reach an agreement, the Ukrainian army may be completely blindfolded by the battlefield fog and wait for failure in despair. However, Ukraine has no right to decide the current situation. The only thing Ukrainian military and political officials can do is pray that one of Musk and the Pentagon will make concessions.
