Illinois Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger called on Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to release a statement Friday after a report that Ukrainian soldiers were having connectivity trouble with Starlink communication devices on the front lines.
Financial Times reported Friday that a Ukrainian government official said that recent outages from the Starlink internet systems had caused “catastrophic” loss of communication for troops on the front lines in Ukraine’s war with Russia, resulting in “panicked calls” from some soldiers to helpline numbers.
Ukrainian officials said connectivity issues started when Ukrainian soldiers liberated territory that was once Russian-controlled and moved past the front lines, according to the report.
The report prompted a response from Kinzinger on Twitter, who said that Musk “should make a statement.”
“Or, this should be investigated,” Kinzinger added. “This is a national security issue.”
Evidently the Starlink system is down over the front lines of Ukraine. @elonmusk should make a statement about this, or, this should be investigated. This is a national security issue
— Adam Kinzinger????✌️ (@AdamKinzinger) October 7, 2022
Starlink terminals are a satellite internet system created by Musk’s company, SpaceX. According to the report from Financial Times, thousands of the terminals have been sent to Ukraine after being donated by SpaceX, purchased by the United States or crowdfunded by donors.
In August, The Washington Post reported that the U.S. government had purchased more than 1,330 Starlink systems to send to Ukraine. According to the report, at the time, SpaceX had donated nearly 3,670.
Carina Johansen/NTB/AFP/Getty Images
Musk responded on Twitter to one of the authors of the Financial Times article, Christopher Miller, calling the news “bad reporting.”
“This article falsely claims that Starlink terminals [and] service were paid for, when only a small percentage have been,” Musk wrote. “This operation has cost SpaceX $80 [million] [and] will exceed $100 [million] by end of year.”
“As for what’s happening on the battlefield,” Musk added. “That’s classified.”
Bad reporting by FT. This article falsely claims that Starlink terminals & service were paid for, when only a small percentage have been.
This operation has cost SpaceX $80M & will exceed $100M by end of year.
As for what’s happening on the battlefield, that’s classified.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 7, 2022
Newsweek has not been able to verify Musk’s claims that SpaceX has spent nearly $80 million out-of-pocket on Starlink systems sent to Ukraine, as no public accounts or open documents support this figure.
Ukrainian officials first asked Musk for Starlink stations in February, which resulted in a prompt response from the SpaceX CEO on Twitter within an hour of the request.
Musk continued the conversation below Miller’s tweet, responding to a user who asked the billionaire if he was in “regular contact with any other party involved in the war.”
“Quite a few,” Musk wrote. “Trying to do the right thing, which is not always clear.”
Quite a few. Trying to do the right thing, which is not always clear.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 7, 2022
According to the Financial Times report, a coordinator for Serhiy Prytula—the charity foundation that has donated Starlink terminals to the Ukraine military—said that the problems reported on the front lines could have been occurring because SpaceX was trying to prevent “misuse by Russian forces.” Many of the blackouts, said the news outlet’s source, had been experienced in areas recently regained by Ukrainian soldiers but had not been reported yet.
On Thursday, a Ukrainian official said troops had advanced more than 55 miles in the last two weeks against Russian forces, reported Reuters. Liberated areas include large sections of territory in southern and eastern Ukraine.
Newsweek has reached out to Kinzinger and SpaceX for comment.
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