Ukraine reacts to fears of Russian invasion as troops build up at the border

[Ralin]

So am I wrong or does it seem like using new conscripts to supplement trained Belarussian soldiers would be an effective way to get them up to speed reasonably quickly without just throwing them away?

Like, it takes at least a few months to get new recruits trained up enough that they're not somewhere between useless and a liability. Some of that training has to be on the job from working with other soldiers. Assuming the Belarussian military isn't crap that seems like a niche they could fill if the Russian military is suffering from a lack of experienced trainers

[Zaune]

It's possible, I guess. But it's an open question whether Russia has the luxury of spending six months training their rookies up to a semblance of competence. And shipping the more reluctant conscripts overseas is likely to mean trouble because they'll have to depend on the Belarusian (or however you spell it) authorities to round up anyone who goes AWOL and somehow I suspect they've got more important things to do.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

'We feel mighty': Ukraine turns abandoned Russian weaponry on Putin's forces.

To me they look like sitting ducks, but the tank crew seems very relaxed.

Perhaps it’s just that they’re concentrating on their mission - which is to fire on a Russian target two miles away.

We are standing, under clear blue skies on the edge of fields near the contested city of Bakhmut, in the east of Ukraine.

The tank lets lose another salvo. Eight deafening blasts, mercifully without reply from the Russians, before we trundle back to our hiding place in the woods.

G7 leaders accuse Vladimir Putin of ‘war crimes’ in Ukraine
Ukraine reels after missile strikes, but Russia still losing on frontline
"It is hard and dangerous,’’ Leonid, the tank’s driver concedes later. "We get shelled every day. The frontline here is the most intensive fighting."

Leonid and his crew curse Vladimir Putin and his army. But they thank him too. For providing the means of their enemy’s destruction.

The tank we have watched in action is one of many that began this war on the other side.

It’s an obvious thing to say; without NATO’s support, Ukraine could not defend itself against Russia’s invasion.

Less well known is the fact that the biggest supplier of tanks and other battlefield weaponry is Russia itself.

Since the start of the war, Ukraine’s armed forces have captured at least 440 Russian tanks and 650 other armoured vehicles, according to Britain’s Ministry of Defence.

It is testament to the Russians' rapid rout that they abandoned so many fighting vehicles as they retreated.

We joined the crew of a Grad missile system that had taken part in the battle for Kyiv, back in the early weeks of the war on the Russian side.

Slightly damaged and left behind by the Russians it was fixed up and redeployed to the eastern front, where it is now part of the Ukrainian defensive line.

It gives the crew some pleasure to be turning Russia’s firepower back on them, says Maxim, one of its team of operators.

"We feel more powerful and more mighty when we think this machines was theirs, and now it’s ours," he says, with a smile.

[wautd]

In brighter news for Putin, the UN had a vote one whether or not the illegally annexed regions will be recognized. Out of 193 countries, Russia, Syria, North Korea, Belarus and Nicaragua voted in favor of Russia. What a landslide

[wautd]

snip

Got to love the irony that when Putin was going to demilitarize Ukraine, he ended up with Russia being Ukraine's main weapons supplier a few months later

[Lord Revan]

snip

Got to love the irony that when Putin was going to demilitarize Ukraine, he ended up with Russia being Ukraine's main weapons supplier a few months later

Wouldn't be the first time Soviet Union/Russian Federation ended up being the main supplier for the enemy due to gross incompetence.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Elon Musk’s SpaceX says it can no longer fund Starlink internet in Ukraine.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has said it cannot afford to continue to donate satellite internet to Ukraine and has asked the US government to pick up the bill, according to a report, as the relationship between the billionaire and Kyiv breaks down.

“We are not in a position to further donate terminals to Ukraine, or fund the existing terminals for an indefinite period of time,” SpaceX’s director of government sales wrote, in a letter seen by CNN.

In a separate letter reported by CNN, an external consultant working for the company told the Pentagon: “SpaceX faces terribly difficult decisions here. I do not think they have the financial ability to provide any additional terminals or service.”

Musk appeared to confirm that report on Friday morning, writing on Twitter that “nothing was leaked about our competitors in space launch & communications, Lockheed & Boeing, who get over $60B [from the US Department of Defence]”.

In another post, he tweeted: “In addition to terminals, we have to create, launch, maintain & replenish satellites & ground stations & pay telcos for access to Internet via gateways. We’ve also had to defend against cyber-attacks & jamming, which are getting harder. Burn is approaching ~$20M/month.”

But the request for funding comes after a high-profile intervention from Musk, who suggested Ukraine should seek an end to the war by surrendering territory to Russia and committing to remain “neutral”. His tweets led to a furious reaction from the Ukrainian government, which had previously praised Musk for offering the Starlink system.

“Fuck off is my very diplomatic reply to you,” tweeted Andrij Melnyk, the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany. “The only outcome is that now no Ukrainian will EVER buy your f…ing Tesla crap. So good luck to you.”

In response to a suggestion that Musk was threatening to withdraw Starlink because of Melnyk’s words, the SpaceX chief executive tweeted this morning that “we’re just following his recommendation ”.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Friday that Kyiv would find a solution to keep Starlink working. “Let’s be honest. Like it or not, @elonmusk helped us survive the most critical moments of war,” Podolyak wrote on Twitter. “Business has the right to its own strategies. Ukraine will find a solution to keep Starlink working. We expect that the company will provide stable connection till the end of negotiations.”

Ukrainian forces had already reported problems with Starlink coverage in recent days, after Musk’s attempted peace process but before the latest reports of a funding gap. Last week, the Financial Times reported a “catastrophic” loss of communication occurred as soldiers in the Ukrainian army pushed forward into land previously occupied by Russia, in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

The terminals, which connect to a fleet of low-earth orbit microsatellites launched by SpaceX in order to provide high-speed internet access across much of the world, have proved crucial to the Ukrainian war effort since they were donated by the company earlier this year. As well as enabling rapid secure communication between troops on the ground and headquarters, the satellites also help the army operate the drones that have proved pivotal in reshaping the rules of the battlefield.

On Tuesday, Musk denied a report that he had spoken directly to Vladimir Putin, the Russian president. Ian Bremmer, the president of the political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, said: “Elon Musk told me he had spoken with Putin and the Kremlin directly about Ukraine. He also told me what the Kremlin’s red lines were.”

Musk tweeted in reply: “Nobody should trust Bremmer”

I wonder if his earlier tweets were to troll the Ukrainian government so that he could use the reaction to justify pulling the plug, or did he not think that far ahead?

[EnterpriseSovereign]

What are NASAMS? Ukraine hails ‘new era’ of air defence as allies rush systems in response to Russian missiles.

On the ground, Ukraine’s military has been clawing back swathes of territory from Russia in a series of blistering counteroffensives in recent months. It has demonstrated an ability to strike far behind enemy lines, most notably when it hit the Kerch Strait Bridge linking Crimea to the mainland.

But despite those successes, it has remained vulnerable to attacks from the air. Russia’s response to the strike on the strategically important bridge was fierce and swift: it rained a flurry of more than 75 missiles on Ukrainian cities across the country, hitting both civilian and military targets. Although not all the missiles hit their mark, it was a painful reminder of that vulnerability.

Speaking after the strikes, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky asked allies to step up their deliveries of advanced air defence systems.

“When Ukraine receives a sufficient quantity of modern and effective air defence systems, the key element of Russia’s terror — rocket strikes — will cease to work,” he told Zelensky told Group of Seven leaders this week.

Now, Kyiv’s allies are doing just that.

In the days since the missile barrage, which left energy infrastructure damaged and killed at least 14 civilians, the United States and its Nato allies have pledged deliveries of advanced air defence systems.

At the top of that list was a pledge by the White House to speed up the delivery of sophisticated National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, or NASAMS — a short to medium range ground-based air defence.

The US had approved the delivery of eight NASAMS in August, following repeated requests from Zelensky. The first two of which were due to arrive in November, and the rest at a later date. But that order has been expedited following the Russian missile attacks, the White House said, and Ukraine’s defence minister now expects the first two to arrive before the end of October.

The systems cost around $23m per unit, according to the Department of Defence.

"Systems will be provided as fast as we can physically get them there," Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters on Tuesday. "We’re going to do everything we can, as fast as we can, to help the Ukrainian forces get the capability they need to protect the Ukrainian people.”

So what are NASAMS? And will they be enough to protect Ukraine against further missile attacks?

The NASAMS is a mobile, mid-range air defence system capable of identifying, engaging and destroying “current and evolving enemy aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicle and emerging cruise missile threats,” according to manufacturer Raytheon Missiles and Defense, which developed the system with Norwegian defence and aerospace firm Kongsberg.

The systems have been used to protect the airspace around Washington DC and the wider Capitol region since around 2005.

A new era of air defence has begun in . IRIS-Ts from are already here. NASAMS are coming. This is only the beginning. And we need more. No doubt that russia is a terrorist state.

There is a moral imperative to protect the sky over in order to save our people. pic.twitter.com/jvbXUwDjc8

— Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) October 11, 2022
The system is armed with three launchers, each of which can carry up to six missiles, and can identify targets up to 25 miles away. Those launchers are capable of engaging “72 targets simultaneously in active and passive modes and, using active seeker missiles, can intercept targets beyond visual range,” according to the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, a missile defence lobby group.

Currently, Ukraine is using an existing stock of Soviet-made air defence systems, such as the S-300 long-range surface-to-air missile system. It has also made use of the SA-11 Buk mid-range system near front lines, according to the Financial Times.

But most of those systems were designed nearly 40 years ago and have failed to fully protect Ukraine’s airspace, as the latest Russian missile strikes showed.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday after the US agreed to expedite the delivery of its NASAMS, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen Mark Milley said Ukrainians has used their current systems “very effectively,” but that they have been asking for more comprehensive protection in the form of an “integrated air missile defence system” — that is a mix of systems with different ranges.

“That doesn’t control all the airspace over Ukraine, but they’re designed to control priority targets that Ukraine needs to protect,” Gen Milley said.

It is not just the US that is bolstering Ukraine’s air defences. The NASAMS will be supported by Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) sent by the United Kingdom, the UK Ministry of Defence announced on Thursday. The rockets, which cost around $1.2m each, will be the “first donated by the UK which are capable of shooting down cruise missiles,” the MoD said in a statement.

“These weapons will help Ukraine defend its skies from attacks and strengthen their overall missile defence alongside the US NASAMS,” Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said.

In addition, the UK will send “hundreds of additional air defence missiles, of other types previously provided, will also be donated as part of the package, along with hundreds of additional aerial drones to support Ukraine’s information gathering and logistics capabilities,” the MoD said in its statement.

Some Nato allies have moved even faster than the United States. Four German-made IRIS-T Surface-Launched-Missile (SLM) systems, which can defend against missiles at a range of 25 miles, have already arrived in Ukraine this week. Like the NASAMS, their delivery was sped up following the Russian missile strikes.

German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht told reporters in Brussels that a further three air defence systems would be delivered to Ukraine next year.

“Ukraine urgently needs air defence systems and artillery and this is exactly what Germany delivers,” she said.

Ukraine’s minister of defence Oleksii Reznikov heralded the arrival of the German systems and impending US delivery as a “new era of air defence” in Ukraine.

“A new era of air defence has begun in [Ukraine]. IRIS-Ts from [Germany] are already here. [American] NASAMS are coming. This is only the beginning. And we need more. No doubt that Russia is a terrorist state,” he wrote on Twitter.

“There is a moral imperative to protect the sky over [Ukraine] in order to save our people,” he added.

The question that now remains is whether the new air defence systems will be enough to stop future Russian missile attacks. Some military analysts have suggested that even the most comprehensive defence systems in the world could not fully protect Ukraine — and that its military leaders will still have to make critical choices about how to distribute the systems it has been given between civilian and military targets.

But Tyler Rogoway, an aviation and defence writer, argued that the most important aspect of the NASAMS is the widespread availability of the ammunition needed to fire it.

“NASAMS’ primary armament is the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM). Yes, the exact same missile used around the world by fighter aircraft in air-to-air applications,” he wrote in The Drive.

“This means NATO alone, which sits on an inventory of many thousands of AMRAAMs, can provide Ukraine with the ammo it needs to maximize the system’s impact. There are few modern SAM systems that have enough ammunition sitting on the shelf to last over a sustained high-intensity conflict like the one in Ukraine,” he wrote, describing it as “an absolutely critical advantage.”

The most urgent task now for Ukraine will be learning how to coordinate the various different systems on the way to its armed forces, Gen Milley said in his briefing.

“The task will be to bring those together, get them deployed, get them trained — because each of these systems is different — make sure that they can link together with the command-and-control and communication systems and make sure they have radars that can talk to each other so that they can acquire targets on the inbound flights,” he said.

“So it’s quite complicated from a technical standpoint. It is achievable, and that’s what we’re aiming at,” he said.

[bilateralrope]

I wonder if his earlier tweets were to troll the Ukrainian government so that he could use the reaction to justify pulling the plug, or did he not think that far ahead?

Look at the mess over him trying to back out of his agreement to buy Twitter. He doesn't seem good at planning ahead.

Or he's trying to cosy up with Putin.

[GuppyShark]

Or it's the billionaire equivalent of drunk texting your ex, and then having to come up with an explanation that makes you out to be the victim somehow.

[Eternal_Freedom]

The Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany's reply is possibly the funniest diplomatic message I have ever seen.

“Fuck off is my very diplomatic reply to you,” tweeted Andrij Melnyk, the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany. “The only outcome is that now no Ukrainian will EVER buy your f…ing Tesla crap. So good luck to you.”

That's priceless.

[Crazedwraith]

I thought the US was already paying for the Ukrainian Starlink anyway.

[Batman]

The Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany's reply is possibly the funniest diplomatic message I have ever seen.
“Fuck off is my very diplomatic reply to you,” tweeted Andrij Melnyk, the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany. “The only outcome is that now no Ukrainian will EVER buy your f…ing Tesla crap. So good luck to you.”
That's priceless.

[Lord Revan]

I do wonder if Elon Musk is just so out of touch with the real world he actually thinks any pro-Russian treaty would last long enough for the ink on the paper to dry, only version of "neutral" Russia would ever accept would be "annexed in everything but name".

I'm especially concerned here as I suspect that should this end an attempt to appease Russia, Finland would be next on the list of countries having to give up land, considering technically Finland is still not a NATO member (and thus article 5 technically does not apply), granted if Hungary gets their act together before the end of this conflict and realize that stalling Finland's and Sweden's NATO membership only benefits Russia who knows what will happen other then it's probably not good for anyone.

[Solauren]

no, this is Elon Musk being an opprotunist.

He probably is thinking along the lines of -

"I cut of the Ukrainians, and the US government will go 'what do you want to hook them back up?'
I go 'cancel the Twitter deal.' The US Government cancels it, and I win no matter what".

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Ukraine: Russian reservists 'likely purchasing their own armour' as prices soar online, UK says.

Russian reservists are "likely required to purchase their own body armour" as prices for armoured vests soar online, according to the latest intelligence update from the UK Ministry of Defence.

The defence intelligence update states that "endemic corruption and poor logistics" remain one of the main causes for "Russia's poor performance" in Ukraine.

The 6B45 vest, which is meant to be on general issue to combat units as of the Ratnik personal equipment programme, has been selling on Russian sites for 40,000 roubles (approximately $640 or £570), up from around 12,000 roubles (approximately $190 or £170) in April.

"Contingents of mobilised Russian reservists have been deployed to Ukraine over the last two weeks," the intelligence update states.

"Their average level of personal equipment is almost certainly lower than the already poor provision of previously deployed troops."

It comes as the US vowed to send Ukraine a new $725 million package of weapons and other military assistance, adding to a flurry of aid announcements from European allies this week.

It follows the UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace's announcement that the UK will send anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine to help protect their skies.
Britain will also give £10 million to the military alliance’s funding package to help provide humanitarian assistance to Ukraine including winter clothes, shelters, generators, fuel trucks and ambulances.

Regions of southern Ukraine illegally annexed by Russian President Vladimir Putin saw more heavy fighting on Saturday as Ukrainian soldiers pressed a ground campaign to recapture one, and Russian forces exploded long-range missiles and Iranian-made drones in another.

In the Zaporizhzhia region, Governor Oleksandr Starukh said the Russian military carried out strikes with kamikaze drones from Iran and long-range S-300 missiles.

Dmytro Pocishchuk, a hospital medic in the Zaporizhzhia region's capital who has treated dozens of people wounded during Russian attacks in recent weeks, said people sought safety outdoors or in his building's basement when the familiar blasts started at 5:15am on Saturday.
“If Ukraine stops, these bombings and killings will continue. We can’t give up to the Russian Federation,’" Pocishchuk said several hours later.

The neighboring Kherson region, one of the first areas of Ukraine to fall to Russia after the invasion and which Putin also illegally designated as Russian territory last month, remained the focus of a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

A missile strike also seriously damaged a key energy facility in Ukraine's capital region, the country's grid operator said.

Kyiv region Governor Oleksiy Kuleba said the missile that hit a power site on Saturday morning didn't kill or wound anyone.

Citing security, Ukrainian officials didn't identify the site, one of many infrastructure targets the Russian military tried to destroy after an October 8 truck bomb explosion damaged the bridge that links Russia to the annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Ukrainian electricity transmission company Ukrenergo said repair crews were working to restore electricity service, but warned residents about further possible outages.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of the Ukrainian president's office, urged residents of the capital and three neighboring regions to conserve energy.

“Putin may hope that by increasing the misery of the Ukrainian people, President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy may be more inclined to negotiate a settlement that allows Russia to retain some stolen territory in the east or Crimea,” said Ian Williams, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a policy organisation based in Washington.

“A quick look at history shows that the strategic bombing of civilians is an ineffective way to achieve a political aim. ”

This week's wide-ranging retaliatory attacks, which included the use of self-destructing explosive drones from Iran, killed dozens of people.

The strikes hit residential buildings as well as infrastructure such as power stations in Kyiv, Lviv in western Ukraine, and other cities that had seen comparatively few strikes in recent months.

Putin said on Friday that Moscow didn't see a need for additional massive strikes but his military would continue selective ones.

Putin says troop call-up to fight in Ukraine will end in two weeks
Russians arrive in Georgia to avoid becoming 'cannon fodder' in Putin's war
The Institute for the Study of War, a think tank based in Washington, interpreted Putin's remarks as intended to counter criticism from pro-war Russian bloggers who “largely praised the resumption of strikes against Ukrainian cities, but warned that a short campaign would be ineffective."

Russia has lost ground in the nearly seven weeks since Ukraine's armed forces opened their southern counteroffensive.

This week, the Kremlin launched what is believed to be its largest coordinated air and missile raids since Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Seeing as this hasn't been mentioned yet:

Eleven soldiers dead and 15 injured in shooting by fed-up conscripts at Russian base.

Two disgruntled soldiers shot dead at least 11 other conscripts at a training camp in Belgorod, southern Russia, the worst violence in the Kremlin's chaotic three-week mobilisation.

Photos allegedly from the shoot-out showed dead Russian soldiers lying across what appears to be a military shooting range. In one photo, paramedics treat a man with a serious gunshot injury.

Pro-war Russian officials had blamed the shooting on Ukrainian special forces but later reports said that two Tajiks mobilised into the army opened fire on other recruits.

Russia's ministry of defence confirmed that 11 recruits were shot dead and 15 were injured before the two Tajik men were "killed by return fire".

The shooting comes as tension rises around the city of Belgorod, 20 miles from the border with Ukraine. Air raid sirens sound and video footage appears to show the city's missile defence system firing regularly. Russian officials have blamed Ukraine for bombing the thermal power station and other strategic sites.

[Lord Revan]

It does seem Russia had no real plan for this when they started (or that plan was based in comically inaccurate information) and are now panicking to fix things and causing more damage as result and as I said before I really suspect that what we're seeing is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the problems Russia is having due to what we're getting being leaks that got thru the authorities rather then information given freely.

[bilateralrope]

Musk has withdrawn his request for the Pentagon to fund Starlink in Ukraine. Instead, he's asking for donations:

Musk to seek Starlink donations after withdrawing request for Ukraine funding

SpaceX "will add a donate option to Starlink" for places in need, Musk wrote.
JON BRODKIN - 10/19/2022, 5:06 AM

The Pentagon has reportedly held talks with SpaceX about funding Starlink in Ukraine, though SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote in a tweet yesterday that "SpaceX has already withdrawn its request for funding." Musk also said he'll seek Starlink donations for places in need.

"The Pentagon and SpaceX have held discussions about funding for the company's Starlink Internet service in Ukraine, a senior military official said Monday, but Elon Musk indicated that SpaceX is no longer seeking that support," The Wall Street Journal wrote. There's still a chance the Pentagon could pay for Starlink from a Ukraine-specific fund that is aiding the country's defense against Russia's invasion, according to a Politico report.

Musk wrote in another tweet that "25,300 terminals were sent to Ukraine, but, at present, only 10,630 are paying for service." He also wrote that SpaceX "will add a donate option to Starlink" for those who "want to donate Starlinks to places in need."

That could include Ukraine and other countries. Musk's tweet about adding a donation option came in response to Ham Serunjogi, co-founder and CEO of a company that runs a service for sending and receiving money in Africa. "I'd be glad to commit $$ to donate Starlink to schools & hospitals in Uganda," Serunjogi wrote.

SpaceX previously sent a letter asking the Pentagon to fund the Ukraine government and military's use of Starlink broadband, saying that the company can't afford to donate more user terminals or pay for operations indefinitely. The letter was sent in September but became public last week in a CNN report.

Musk defended the request on Friday, writing that "SpaceX is not asking to recoup past expenses but also cannot fund the existing system indefinitely and send several thousand more terminals that have data usage up to 100X greater than typical households. This is unreasonable." The Ukraine operation has cost SpaceX $80 million, and costs will exceed $100 million by the end of this year, according to Musk.

“Little confidence that Musk can be trusted”

Musk seemed to backtrack on Saturday, albeit grudgingly. "The hell with it... even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we'll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free," he wrote.

Despite that Musk tweet, "a US official involved in the discussions said that there is little confidence that Musk can be trusted, forcing DoD to identify a way to keep Starlink or a suitable backup running in Ukraine for the foreseeable future," according to the Politico article yesterday. The article was published shortly before Musk's additional tweet saying that "SpaceX has already withdrawn its request for funding."

"The Pentagon is considering paying for the Starlink satellite network—which has been a lifeline for Ukraine—from a fund that has been used to supply weapons and equipment over the long term, according to two US officials who are involved in the deliberations," Politico wrote. That fund is the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which "has been used to acquire a range of weapons and services for the Ukraine war effort," the article said.

EU officials are also "discussing whether to cover the subscription cost of the Starlink terminals Elon Musk donated to Ukraine," the Financial Times wrote yesterday.

The Pentagon said last week that it's considering other satellite options, too. "There are certainly other Satcom capabilities that exist out there," Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said, according to the Financial Times. "There's not just SpaceX; there are other entities that we can certainly partner with when it comes to providing Ukraine with what they need on the battlefield."

Anyone else get the feeling that Musk is looking for a reason to stop helping Ukraine here ?

If SpaceX is paying for it, or if donations are, he can claim that there isn't enough money to continue. But if the Pentagon starts paying, that excuse goes away.

[His Divine Shadow]

I'm sceptical to the costs he's claiming personally.

[Lord Revan]

I'm sceptical to the costs he's claiming personally.

Normally I wouldn't agree but in this case Elon Musk has acting so transparently pro-Russian that you have to wonder if Moscow is paying him for it.

[His Divine Shadow]

This is the reason I am sceptical
https://twitter.com/dim0kq/status/1580827171903635456

Also relevant stuff in the replies to the thread starter

[bilateralrope]

This is the reason I am sceptical
https://twitter.com/dim0kq/status/1580827171903635456

Also relevant stuff in the replies to the thread starter

Sounds like he wasn't expecting the Pentagon to consider paying for Starlink when he complained about not being able to afford it. And he really doesn't want the transparency that would come with them paying for it.

But he desperately wants some excuse to cut off Ukraine.

Normally I wouldn't agree but in this case Elon Musk has acting so transparently pro-Russian that you have to wonder if Moscow is paying him for it.

Maybe Russia is paying. Maybe they made threats that he believes. Maybe they found something to blackmail him with.

It will be really entertaining if someone turns up evidence of him taking Russian money.

[madd0c0t0r2]

This is the reason I am sceptical
https://twitter.com/dim0kq/status/1580827171903635456

Also relevant stuff in the replies to the thread starter

Sounds like he wasn't expecting the Pentagon to consider paying for Starlink when he complained about not being able to afford it. And he really doesn't want the transparency that would come with them paying for it.

But he desperately wants some excuse to cut off Ukraine.

Normally I wouldn't agree but in this case Elon Musk has acting so transparently pro-Russian that you have to wonder if Moscow is paying him for it.

Maybe Russia is paying. Maybe they made threats that he believes. Maybe they found something to blackmail him with.

It will be really entertaining if someone turns up evidence of him taking Russian money.

My understanding of it is not direct payment, but enhanced access to markets for Tesla: https://insideevs.com/news/615568/china ... ember2022/

[Lord Revan]

This is the reason I am sceptical
https://twitter.com/dim0kq/status/1580827171903635456

Also relevant stuff in the replies to the thread starter

Sounds like he wasn't expecting the Pentagon to consider paying for Starlink when he complained about not being able to afford it. And he really doesn't want the transparency that would come with them paying for it.

But he desperately wants some excuse to cut off Ukraine.

Normally I wouldn't agree but in this case Elon Musk has acting so transparently pro-Russian that you have to wonder if Moscow is paying him for it.

Maybe Russia is paying. Maybe they made threats that he believes. Maybe they found something to blackmail him with.

It will be really entertaining if someone turns up evidence of him taking Russian money.

My understanding of it is not direct payment, but enhanced access to markets for Tesla: https://insideevs.com/news/615568/china ... ember2022/

Yeah I wasn't expecting to find footage of a Russian accented person entering Musk's office with a suitcase full of cash. Still better access to markets might as well be direct payment for someone like Musk.

This is liable to hurt Musk as Russia as trade partner will probably not seen as wise investment and could raise doubts as to the reliability of his companies, but then even before these Elon Musk showed what can politely described as clear distancing from reality like blaming leftist for the fact that his trans child distanced herself from Musk, while Elon Musk expressed transphobic opinions.