The Atlantic: Musk could shut down Starlink for Ukraine at any moment

From support to the threat of shutdown

American entrepreneur Elon Musk has changed his position on Ukraine — from organizing Starlink deliveries at the start of the conflict to criticizing Kyiv. This is how The Atlantic characterizes the situation, as cited by Gazeta.Ru. The article describes the transformation of Musk's attitude toward Ukraine, as well as concerns related to the operation of the military version of the system — Starshield — whose restrictions were observed in mid-October.

Ways access could be restricted

The key thesis of the publication: recent disruptions to the service in Ukraine have shown that Musk is able to shut down the service at any moment at his own discretion. In an internal memo from the company 'People's Starlink,' which The Atlantic quotes, several possible scenarios are listed. One of them is raising the fee for using Starshield antennas, which would force the US government to either pay for the service or abandon it entirely. In the most extreme case, the company could completely block access for Ukraine; according to the publication, Musk's own statements leave open such a possibility.

Context of the reports on restrictions

Reports of restrictions on Starshield's operation in Ukraine have appeared before: last week, The Economist, citing sources, wrote that Musk had ordered the system's operation to be restricted in order to punish Ukraine for strikes on Russian oil refineries. Earlier, the WSJ reported on who initiated these restrictions. Importantly, all of this information relies on sources and media publications: there is no official confirmation from SpaceX or American authorities in the available materials, and The Atlantic describes possible scenarios rather than decisions already made.