Vladimir Putin praised the genius of Elon Musk and said he was in contact with Starlink’s majority shareholder as Russia develops its own satellite communications for its military to use against Ukraine.
The Russian president, speaking at a summit with African leaders in Moscow, compared the Earth-orbiting network built by Musk’s SpaceX with Russia’s incremental efforts to build its own Rassvet constellation.
“Elon Musk is a genius, a real genius,” the Russian leader said, according to the Tass news agency. “How many of these (satellites) does it have in orbit? More than 5,000, and we’re just taking the first steps.”
The actual number of active SpaceX satellites is estimated at around 10,000, which provide the high-speed internet service that was the subject of a diplomatic row between Musk, the United States and Ukraine earlier this month.
A military version of Starlink, called Starshield, was suddenly restricted one night in mid-October, preventing Ukraine from carrying out medium drone attacks and hampering some of its anti-drone air defenses.
Musk, an ally of US President Donald Trump, initially denied ordering an Internet cap, before saying late last week that he had closed a loophole in which civilian Starlink had been used by the military.
Putin appeared to be trying to flatter Musk, whose control of communications technology has raised questions about the American billionaire’s influence over the White House and the impact he is capable of having on Ukraine’s war effort.
“We are in close contact with our American partners – including Mr Musk – because it is very important in orbit not to interfere with each other and to maintain a certain level of discipline and order,” Putin said.
Starlink does not work in Russia and its use by Russia in Ukraine was restricted earlier this year. Meanwhile, Moscow has begun developing an alternative system, although with around 26 operational satellites its capacity is limited.
Last week, after about 10 days of restrictions, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that “Starlink and Starshield operations have been restored” and that speeds were “now where they need to be.”
Few believe the issue is definitively settled, as relations between Zelensky and Trump are strained ahead of the US mid-term elections next Tuesday. Trump also reached out to Putin, agreeing to buy diesel from Moscow in early October in an effort to reduce the price of oil before Americans go to the polls.
Zelensky said on Wednesday that he hoped the proposed trilateral peace talks, involving Ukraine, Russia and the United States, would take place between November 6 and 10 in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, shortly after the midterms.
“We are waiting for the American side. I think they will be ready to give all the answers after the elections,” the Ukrainian leader said at a press conference in The Hague with Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten.
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Earlier, Zelenskyy said he had spoken to Andy Burnham, the British prime minister, when it emerged that Britain would provide £10 billion in additional funding to Ukraine over the next three years – and an immediate £500 million for air defense systems.
The additional aid constitutes, Zelensky said, “a really strong and very timely step” that comes “when Russia needs to see and feel that Ukraine will not be left alone” as the war heads into what is expected to be its most difficult winter yet.
John Healey, the British chancellor, announced additional funding as part of the government’s annual budget. “The Prime Minister and I called President Zelensky to tell him about our commitments in today’s budget. He said, ‘You made my day.’
The Dutch government also announced it would provide 500 million euros in military support for the winter, as well as an additional 1.2 billion euros in non-military aid, in part to help finance urgent repairs to Ukraine’s public services and manufacturing industry.
kyiv has been under relentless attack by Moscow this fall as Russian forces fail to make progress on the front lines in eastern Ukraine.
Russia has launched more than 100 ballistic missiles against kyiv and the surrounding region since mid-October, Zelensky said overnight, hitting power plants and other key targets in a bid to provoke a humanitarian crisis in the capital.
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