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Ukraine Loses Starlink Access as Musk Says Zelenskiy Went “Too Far” (newrepublic.com)
submitted 1 day ago by to c/ukraine@lemmy.world
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Is Elon Musk using SpaceX to kneecap Starlink access in Ukraine on behalf of President Donald Trump?

A Ukrainian military official claimed Wednesday that Musk’s SpaceX had interrupted functioning of the country’s military-grade Starlink terminals, Reuters reported. Presidential adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov wrote on Telegram that Ukrainian defense forces “did not receive warning about this limitation, and this led to the disruption of several missions.”

The disruption comes just days after Trump publicly criticized Ukraine for continuing to attack Russian oil refineries in the wake of the U.S. lifting sanctions on the sale of Russian oil, and called for the removal of  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Musk weighed in on Trump’s comments on social media Saturday, writing: “Zelensky has gone too far.”

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, whose country pays for Ukraine’s Starlink access, responded to reports of the disruption. 

“Hey, @elonmusk, big man, are you playing politics with your products again? As your European customers, we are watching you,” he wrote on X. Musk did not respond. 

If the disruption really is some kind of political intervention, this is only further proof that Europeans—or really, anyone in the world—cannot rely on any of Musk’s products, as they will be at the whims of the billionaire technocrat that still finds himself at Trump’s beck and call.

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[–] 9 points 1 day ago*

I'm aware that many rural users have no other option. However, fiber is a one time cost (for the most part), and if you have grid electricity, it can be brought to you. That's my point - the PUDs should have received the grant money to roll out fiber to more rural users. The rural parts of my county have done just that, rural users were the first to get publicly owned fiber drops because the county treats internet access as a utility.

It won't cover all bases, but again, if you have a grid connection, chances are that you could also have a subsidized fiber connection as well, if your county cares and if Musk wasn't given most of the rural internet grants from the FCC.

I wouldn't go as far to call the technology "great", either. Because the satellites are in LEO, they will eventually fall to earth, meaning they need constant replacement. All of those precious metals, burning up and falling back down to earth. Fiber only needs replacement when damaged, and even then, it's usually not much and is quickly fused back together. No rocket launch required.

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