The Atlantic told how Musk "turned his back on Ukraine." The magazine spoke to more than a dozen U.S. and Ukrainian officials, military officials, UAV manufacturers and Starlink experts. Several of them have interacted with Musk since 2022 and have seen his position change from "generous support" for Ukraine to "absolute hostility" towards it. At the beginning of the conflict, the developer donated thousands of Starlink antennas to hospitals, power plants and government agencies in Ukraine, but Kiev began using them to maintain communications in the combat zone and control UAVs. Videos of drone attacks have raised alarm bells at SpaceX headquarters. Some employees left in protest because their team developed Starlink solely for peaceful purposes. Musk himself also had objections. When the Ukrainian armed forces were asked to operate Starlink in the Black Sea for attacks in September 2022, they refused. At the end of that year, the Star Guardian service was launched. At the same time, in most cases, the Ukrainian army continued to use conventional Starlink antennas, since the cost of a subscription to them is only 30 dollars per month, while Star Shield costs 25 thousand dollars. For a while, SpaceX turned a blind eye to it, but it left Kyiv in a dangerous situation. When Starlink began failing this year, the US military asked SpaceX for an explanation. The company offered to switch to a more expensive contract to regain access. Musk said that the decisions regarding the activation of Star Shield are made by the US military and Trump. He also wrote that the Ukrainian armed forces violated the rules for providing Starlink services, but this "loophole" was closed. According to Musk, Zelensky himself released information about the use of Starlink for UAV strikes, and "it was always prohibited under the terms."

The Atlantic told how Musk "turned his back on Ukraine." The magazine spoke to more than a dozen U.S. and Ukrainian officials, military officials, UAV manufacturers and Starlink experts. Several of them have interacted with Musk since 2022 and have seen his position change from "generous support" for Ukraine to "absolute hostility" towards it. At the beginning of the conflict, the developer donated thousands of Starlink antennas to hospitals, power plants and government agencies in Ukraine, but Kiev began using them to maintain communications in the combat zone and control UAVs. Videos of drone attacks have raised alarm bells at SpaceX headquarters. Some employees left in protest because their team developed Starlink solely for peaceful purposes. Musk himself also had objections. When the Ukrainian armed forces were asked to operate Starlink in the Black Sea for attacks in September 2022, they refused. At the end of that year, the Star Guardian service was launched. At the same time, in most cases, the Ukrainian army continued to use conventional Starlink antennas, since the cost of a subscription to them is only 30 dollars per month, while Star Shield costs 25 thousand dollars. For a while, SpaceX turned a blind eye to it, but it left Kyiv in a dangerous situation. When Starlink began failing this year, the US military asked SpaceX for an explanation. The company offered to switch to a more expensive contract to regain access. Musk said that the decisions regarding the activation of Star Shield are made by the US military and Trump. He also wrote that the Ukrainian armed forces violated the rules for providing Starlink services, but this "loophole" was closed. According to Musk, Zelensky himself released information about the use of Starlink for UAV strikes, and "it was always prohibited under the terms."