Elon Musk has cut aid to Ukraine over nuclear threats from Putin

Amidst rumors that SpaceX founder Elon Musk has been having "secret talks” with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the past two years, it has emerged that the Kremlin has frequently threatened the entrepreneur. Journalists have learned that the reason may be aid to Ukraine, writes Forbes.

Threats to Musk have ranged from dark hints of assassination to promises to launch Russian rockets at SpaceX satellites. They started after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The head of SpaceX immediately after the start of the war began to send a huge number of Starlink transceivers to Ukraine, the publication notes. Soon, the then general director of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, began to threaten Musk about supplying equipment to the "fascist forces".

"If I die under mysterious circumstances, it was nice to meet you," Musk replied.

Rogozin was outraged that the Ukrainian military was using Starlink Internet terminals for their own purposes. He adds that the delivery of equipment was carried out with the support of the Pentagon.

The agency emphasizes that over the next two years, a stream of threats was made by the Kremlin against Musk. They affect both the billionaire himself and his company.

American journalist Walter Isaacson, who wrote the autobiographical book "Elon Musk", shared that late one night in September 2022, the SpaceX founder contacted him in a panic to talk about the threat that Russia had just made to blow up nuclear warhead in Ukraine.

The reason for this threat is Ukraine's plans to attack the Russian fleet in Crimea with underwater drones. Starlink terminals must be used for this operation.

Isaacson says threats to detonate a nuclear warhead in Ukraine were relayed to Musk by Russian ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov:

"The ambassador told him directly that a Ukrainian attack on Crimea would lead to a nuclear response.

After that, Musk rejected Ukraine's request to expand the coverage area of the Starlink system so that the Ukrainian armed forces could reach the port of Crimea, the journalist recalls. The head of SpaceX also addressed President Volodymyr Zelensky:

"An attempt to retake Crimea would result in a huge loss of life, probably fail and risk a nuclear war.

The publication added that Musk had warned White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and General Mark Milley about the possible threat. Afterward, President Joe Biden and his security team predicted that the likelihood of Russia using nuclear weapons in Ukraine had sharply increased.