Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla issued a clarification against media reports accusing him of supporting Russia in its war against Ukraine, stating that if it were not for Starlink, kyiv would have been invaded on the first day of the conflict.

The billionaire further stated that expanding military support to Ukraine came at the expense of possible physical and cyber attacks on SpaceX but continued to support the war-torn country.

“A major factor in why Ukraine was NOT invaded by Russia is the Starlink support I provided, at great risk of cyber and physical attack by SpaceX by the Russian military forces. Starlink is the backbone of military communications Ukrainians on the front because everything else has been blown up or blocked by Russia,” Musk wrote in X.

The tech business magnate also added links and sources confirming that he was an ally of Ukraine and supported them in their military operation against Russia.

Notably, Musk, who expressed direct support for Ukraine in most of his public statements, also brought one of his most critical resources to the battlefield; Internet access. Musk donated several hundred Starlink terminals to Ukraine.

Russia-Ukraine War: accusations against Elon Musk

Musk was responding to media reports, in particular the Wall Street Journal’s claim that Musk has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the midst of Russia’s war with Ukraine.

The WSJ also reported that the nature of the talks raises potential national security concerns for some members of the current administration.

That report cited several current and former officials from the US, Europe and Russia who claimed that conversations between Musk and another man ranged from personal to geopolitical and included a request from the Russian leader not to activate his Starlink satellite internet service in Taiwan as a favor to Chinese leader and Putin ally Xi Jinping.

Donald Trump on Putin’s accusations against Musk

Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump He said he was not aware that Elon Musk had been in contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022.

When asked by a reporter during a campaign, the Republican presidential candidate said: “No, I don’t know. Elon is a great guy. He’s one of our geniuses. And we have to protect our geniuses. We have to take care of ourselves.” of our geniuses. There aren’t many of them.”