Starlink is vital tool for Ukraine – Blinken

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said billionaire SpaceX founder and entrepreneur Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite communication system is a "vital tool" for Ukraine.

Source: Bloomberg

Quote from Blinken: "What we would hope and expect is that the technology will remain fully available to the Ukrainians. Starlink has been a vital tool for the Ukrainians to be able to communicate with each other, and particularly for the military to communicate in their effort to defend all of Ukraine’s territory."

Details: Blinken refused to make any comments on reports that Musk rejected Ukraine's request to activate a communications system in Russian-annexed Sevastopol, Crimea, last year to help attack Russian warships.

Background: 

• CNN, which has gained access to an extract from Musk’s biography by American journalist and writer Walter Isaacson, reported that in 2022, Elon Musk secretly ordered that the Starlink satellite connection near the coast of Russian-occupied Crimea be shut down in order to disrupt an attack by Ukraine on the Russian naval fleet in Sevastopol.
• Elon Musk responded to this information regarding disruption and said he had not deactivated Starlink satellite communication for drones, but when Ukraine requested that the system be enabled, he refused.

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