Elon Musk blocks Ukraine from using Starlink in Crimea

Elon Musk personally rejected a Ukrainian request to extend his satellite internet service to Crimea.

This rejection, according to foreign mediaThe SpaceX CEO did so out of fear that an attempt to retake the peninsula from Russian forces could lead to nuclear war, according to a report published Tuesday.

After the Russian aggression of Ukraine began in February, Musk - and the US government - gave Kiev thousands of Starlink systems, enabling Ukrainian forces to communicate in what were previously "dead zones".

But recently there have been problems.

Last week, the Financial Times reported that the service was suffering "catastrophic" frontline outages, prompting speculation that it had been shut down in Russian-controlled areas - possibly to prevent the Kremlin from exploiting the network.

On Twitter, Musk said he could not comment on that.

But speaking to Eurasia Group political analyst Ian Bremmer in late September, Musk appeared to confirm that the satellite service was being disabled on purpose.

According to Bremmer, Musk claimed to have recently spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin, asserting that he is "prepared to negotiate." (Musk this month proposed a peace plan in Ukraine that is seen as aligned with Russian interests).

In that conversation, Putin reportedly threatened to use nuclear weapons if Ukraine tried to retake the Crimean peninsula, which serves as a base for Russia's naval forces in the Black Sea.

On Twitter, however, Musk categorically denied having any recent conversations with the Russian leader, writing that he "has only spoken to Putin once and that was about 18 months ago."

The topic, he said, "was space".

Otherwise, Russian forces are losing ground in southern Ukraine and have lost large areas in eastern Ukraine. /Telegraph/