09.02.2023
SpaceX said it was taking steps to limit Ukraine’s use of Starlink services for military purposes. Ukrainian officials reminded Musk that he had to choose between Ukraine and Russia.
(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) A senior Ukrainian official said on Thursday (February 9) that Musk’s space service company (SpaceX) should choose between Ukraine and Russia.
Earlier, SpaceX said it had taken steps to limit Ukraine’s use of Starlink network equipment to control unmanned vehicles. SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell (Gwynne Shotwell) said Wednesday (February 8),Starlink service “was never intended to be weaponized”。
Starlink service provides broadband communications for Ukraine to resist Russian military invasion.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a political adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, criticized the decision on Twitter, another company owned by Musk. His post read, “This is the year of Ukrainian resistance. SpaceX must decide: Either stand with Ukraine and the right to liberty and not do evil things; or stand with Russia and support the massacre and looting of others national territory”. In his view, “SpaceX/Starlink and Ms. Shotwell should make a specific choice.”
The Ukrainian military uses thousands of Starlink devices to communicate on the battlefield, some of which the company provides for free.
Despite the importance of the Starlink service to Kiev, Podolak has repeatedly criticized Musk since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He dismissed Musk’s “Trading Foreign Territory for Illusory Peace”and urged him not to take a “negative view” of Ukraine’s official account of the conflict.
(Reuters, etc.)
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