The billionaire is afraid of making his satellites a military target.
On his own X network, Elon Musk explained why he did not fulfill the request of the Ukrainian government to turn on the Starlink satellite Internet system in occupied Crimea to attack the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
This is how the billionaire responded to an article in Wired, the authors of which tried to find an explanation for Musk's pro-Russian behavior.
According to the founder of Tesla, Starlink, SpaceX and a number of other companies, the reason for his refusal was US sanctions against Russia. They say that turning on the satellite signal at the request of Ukraine, which “arrived at night”, would be a violation of US laws.
Musk did not explain why, in his opinion, the sanctions concern a territory that, in full compliance with international law, is Ukrainian, and not Russian.
The billionaire cites the reluctance to make Starlink a target for the Russian army as another reason for refusing to help the Ukrainian army. Musk is afraid that excessive involvement in operations against Russia would force the army of the aggressor country to “shoot down his satellites.”