Putin calls Musk a genius
Vladimir Putin called SpaceX founder Elon Musk a "genius" during an exhibition visit at the Russia-Africa Summit in Moscow on Oct. 28. He said Moscow maintains contact with U.S. partners, including Mr. Musk, on space matters despite all political issues. Putin praised the billionaire’s vast satellite network as Russia scrambles to develop its own answer to Starlink. He noted that Roscosmos and other companies work together with these U.S. partners on space matters. This praise comes less than a week after Kyiv restored its ability to operate commercial Starlink terminals and the militarized Starshield version at full speed. President Zelensky confirmed on Oct. 24 that both Starlink and Starshield were working at full speed again following the period of restrictions. This follows an unexpected restriction on the satellite systems that began on Oct. 14. I find the timing of Putin’s praise for Musk, while Ukraine dealt with service interruptions, highly suspicious.
Starshield speed limits and civilian impact
The restriction on Starshield terminals temporarily capped speeds at 160 kilometers per hour, which directly hampered Ukrainian drone interceptors attempting to down Russian jet-powered drones during the period of restriction. Neither Musk nor the U.S. administration of Donald Trump claimed responsibility for the Starshield throttle, and both sides point fingers at each other regarding who caused the sudden reduction in speed. Musk accused Ukraine of violating terms of service by using commercial Starlink terminals to carry out offensive drone strikes, but he added that this "loophole" has been removed. Ukraine rejected Musk’s accusations, saying it uses Starshield systems only to support combat operations against Russian forces within Ukrainian territory. Kyiv also stated that commercial Starlink services do not operate inside Russia and therefore cannot be used to strike Russian territory by Ukrainian forces, as the service is not active there. On Oct. 27, Zelensky said that civilians died while Starlink/Starshield were switched off during the period of reduced service. I find the loss of civilian life caused by these Starlink and Starshield service restrictions absolutely appalling. Russia has continued its daily attacks on Ukraine throughout this entire period, launching over 100 ballistic missiles against Kyiv in the two weeks before Oct. 28.
