When the Ukrainian military first attempted to attack Russian ships in Crimea with naval drones, the mission was stranded 70 kilometers from the target because connection to Elon Musk's Starlink satellite network was suddenly lost. Ukraine was unable to convince Musk to restart the connection, as Ukrainian sources now confirm as well.
In September 2022, Ukraine wanted to launch an attack on the Russian Navy in Sevastopol Bay. The first attempt to attack Russian targets took place on the night of September 16-17.
The head of the Ukrainian Security Service and army commanders monitored the progress of this operation from a protected bunker. Some Navy drones sank or exploded before reaching their target. Only five copies, each carrying 108 kilograms of TNT, were able to continue their journey and approached Sevastopol.
Since it was the first mission with such drones, it was calculated that not all of them would reach their final destination. But what happened next, Ukraine did not take into account.
“We were 70 kilometers from the Russian frigate Admiral Makarov. Everyone was on edge because we were going to attack the ship. Then our communications were cut off. “Elon Musk disabled Starlink, which we used to control Navy drones,” said a senior Ukrainian at the bunker.
look. The Russian tanker Sage was attacked by Navy drones
“Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov tried to convince him, but Musk did not listen to him. Our people also tried to resolve the situation through their channels, but the Americans said it was a private company and they could not put pressure on it.
“Treasure trove of information”
The team then tried to return the Navy drones to the base, but only two of them made it. “But the operation yielded a wealth of information about communications and navigation.”
One of the developers said that the Ukrainian Security Service and the Navy created an entire military laboratory that analyzed everything. Valuable lessons were learned from the failed mission and the drones were modified where necessary. A month later, in October, they succeeded in hitting Russian targets in Sevastopol Bay.
Several charges have previously been brought against Musk for deliberately disrupting the operation. The SpaceX founder's biography revealed that the billionaire “single-handedly prevented a Ukrainian drone strike because he feared a Russian nuclear attack.”
But Musk has always denied disrupting the regime in Crimea, saying he was not initially active in the region and therefore could not be called upon to conduct a Ukrainian military operation without permission from the US president.
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