Elon Musk comments on Ukrainian counteroffensive

He wrote about this on the social network X.

"So much death for so little," he wrote. 

This is how Musk commented on a post by American economist and businessman David Sacks, who published a map of the Ukrainian counteroffensive with the caption "Ukrainian territorial gains from their much-vaunted counteroffensive [highlighted in blue] are so miniscule they can barely be seen on a map"

Scale of the Ukrainian counteroffensive

Since the beginning of the counteroffensive, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have liberated 261.7 square kilometers of Ukrainian land in the south.

In just one week, the Defense Forces liberated 5.2 square kilometers in the southern Zaporizhzhia and Kherson sectors. The Russian enemy is on the defensive there, but continues to shell.

"In the south, we continue our offensive in the Melitopol sector. There is success in the area south and east of Robotyne. Our troops are now consolidating the gains made there," noted Maliar.

On September 14, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said that the Ukrainian military had liberated the village of Andriivka near Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, but the 3rd Brigade denied the statement and called it false.

Later, on September 17, the Ukrainian Defense Forces completely liberated Klishchiivka, south of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, but the enemy continued to try to capture the town.

On September 18, General Staff reported that the Ukrainian military repelled Russian attacks near Bila Hora in the Bakhmut sector, and in the area of Klishchiyivka in the Donetsk region they continued assault operations, inflicting significant losses in manpower and equipment on the enemy, and consolidating their positions.

Elon Musk's shutdown of Starlink in Crimea

Writer Walter Isaacson wrote about the Starlink shutdown in his biography of Elon Musk. According to him, the businessman was afraid that the Armed Forces of Ukraine would use the technology to strike at the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

Musk, in turn, said that he did not disconnect Starlink in Crimea, but rejected Ukraine's request to reconnect it.

"SpaceX did not deactivate anything. There was an emergency request from government authorities to activate Starlink all the way to Sevastopol. The obvious intent being to sink most of the Russian fleet at anchor. If I had agreed to their request, then SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation," the businessman explained.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of the Presidential Office, called Musk's actions a mixture of ignorance and a big ego, which resulted in numerous human casualties.

Later, Musk said that he did not consider himself a traitor for shutting down Starlink satellite internet in the temporarily occupied Crimea.

"I am a citizen of the United States and have only that passport. No matter what happens, I will fight for and die in America. The United States Congress did not declare war on Russia. If anyone is treasonous, it is those who call me such," the billionaire said.

Viktor Shlinchak, Chairman of the Board of the Institute of World Policy, believes that Elon Musk plans to join the political establishment.

The American billionaire Elon Musk deactivated Starlink not only in Crimea but also in Donbas, reportedly with the intention of preventing the Ukrainian Armed Forces from using the technology during the counteroffensive. This is stated in Musk's biography, written by writer Walter Isaacson.

It is worth noting that this is not the first scandal involving Musk. Last year, his SpaceX company informed the Pentagon that it refused to finance Starlink satellite communications services in Ukraine. Eventually, the US took over the costs.