Elon Musk says he refused to give Kyiv access to his Starlink communications network over Crimea to avoid complicity in a “major act of war”.

Kyiv had sent an emergency request to activate Starlink to Sevastopol, home to a major Russian navy port, he said.

His comments came after a book alleged he had switched off Starlink to thwart a drone attack on Russian ships.

A senior Ukrainian official says this enabled Russian attacks and accused him of “committing evil”.

Russian naval vessels had since taken part in deadly attacks on civilians, he said.

“By not allowing Ukrainian drones to destroy part of the Russian military (!) fleet via Starlink interference, Elon Musk allowed this fleet to fire Kalibr missiles at Ukrainian cities,” he said.

“Why do some people so desperately want to defend war criminals and their desire to commit murder? And do they now realize that they are committing evil and encouraging evil?” he added.

The row follows the release of a biography of the billionaire by Walter Isaacson which alleges that Mr Musk switched off Ukraine’s access to Starlink because he feared that an ambush of Russia’s naval fleet in Crimea could provoke a nuclear response from the Kremlin.

Ukraine targeted Russian ships in Sevastopol with submarine drones carrying explosives but they lost connection to Starlink and “washed ashore harmlessly”, Mr Isaacson wrote.

Starlink terminals connect to SpaceX satellites in orbit and have been crucial for maintaining internet connectivity and communication in Ukraine as the conflict has disrupted the country infrastructure.

  • GoFastBoots@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    You’re entitled to your hill, but as linguistically correct as you may be, linguistics take a back seat to common usage and national variance.

    Nationalized and nationalised are both English terms. Nationalized is predominantly used in 🇺🇸 American (US) English ( en-US ) while nationalised is predominantly used in 🇬🇧 British English (used in UK/AU/NZ) ( en-GB ).

    • GunnarRunnar@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Yeah what kind of linguistics dweeb doesn’t understand that language is fluid and shapes with time and location.

      • xkforce@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I’d love to see this tool be held to the spelling standards of old English. You know… to preserve the English language.

      • SCB@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Literally the first thing you learn in linguistics is that the malleability in language is why linguistics exists.

        • JackFrostNCola@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Which is literally why “literally” and “figuratively” as practically interchangable due to misuse of ‘literally’ as hyperbole. Its figuratively killing me.

        • GunnarRunnar@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          How is dismissing a correction with a blunt “nope” nice and tacking on etymology when we’re talking about modern use of the word?

        • SatanicNotMessianic@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          Ah, the cruel barbs of irony. Your English is actually quite atrocious.

          There wasn’t a proper sentence in that reply. There was hardly a coherent thought. Perhaps it is time to put your phone down, finish your drink, and go watch a sport.

        • floofloof@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          Oh, get bent, you bell-end! There is no point in trying to be nice and discuss things on here any more; let’s be honest. You lot just love to circle-jerk how much you hate Musk to the detriment of everything else. God buoye ond god spede.

          FTFY.

        • Hyperreality@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nationalize

          You thought you were smart to correct what you thought was a mistake. You were mistaken, because you’re less smart than you think you are, and not smart enough to know that you don’t know that much.

          Rather than admit that you’re less smart than you think you are, you’ve doubled down and become rude about it.

          Vanity, it’s the devil’s favourite sin.

          Obviously, it’s pathetic. We’ve all been there, but you really should learn when to walk away rather than doubling down.

        • Bipta@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          Everyone should just report this idiot and move on. You can’t fix stupid.

    • Oddbin@lemmy.world
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      Wow, this really upset a bunch of the Lemmy toxic club didn’t jt. Honestly, Reddit may be crap but lemmy is doing it’s best to ape it’s toxicity.