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“Elon Musk is the light of world cosmonautics,” said Dmitry Rogozin, head of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos.
Days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February, Musk announced that SpaceX’s Starlink, a satellite broadband service, began providing internet to Ukrainians.
While Starlink delivered an information lifeline to darkened swaths of the war-torn country, including to hundreds of hospitals and clinics, it also served as a link to enable Ukrainian military drones to target Russian tanks and positions more effectively.
A Ukrainian soldier identified as Dima, whose last name was withheld for security reasons, told journalist David Patrikarakos that “Starlink is what changed the war in Ukraine’s favor. Russia went out of its way to blow up all our comms. Now they can’t. Starlink works under Katyusha fire, under artillery fire. It even works in Mariupol.”
Rogozin went on to say, “Elon Musk is supplying the fascist forces in Ukraine with military communication equipment.”
Then he addressed Musk directly: “And for this, Elon, you will be held accountable like an adult—no matter how much you’ll play the fool.”
To which Musk responded with a Tweet: “If I die under mysterious circumstances, it’s been nice knowin ya.”