Vladimir Putin praised Elon Musk’s genius and said he was in touch with Starlink’s controlling 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, was comparing the Earth-orbiting network built by Musk’s SpaceX with Russia’s gradual efforts to build its own Rassvet constellation.
“Elon Musk is a genius, a true genius,” the Russian leader said, according to the Tass news agency. “How many of these [satellites] does he have in orbit? More than 5,000, and we’re only taking the first steps.”
The true number of active SpaceX satellites is estimated at about 10,000, which provide the high-speed internet service that has been the subject of a diplomatic row between Musk, the US and Ukraine earlier this month.
A military version of Starlink, called Starshield, was suddenly restricted one night in the middle of October, preventing Ukraine from conducting medium drone attacks and hampering some of its anti-drone air defences.
Initially, Musk, an ally of US president Donald Trump, denied that he had ordered a throttling of the internet connection, before saying at the end of last week that he had closed a loophole in which the civilian Starlink had been used by the military.
Putin appeared to be trying to flatter Musk, whose control of the communications technology has raised questions about the US billionaire’s leverage over the White House and the impact he is able to have 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 get in each other’s way and to maintain a certain level of discipline and order,” Putin said.
Starlink does not work in Russia and its use by Russia inside Ukraine was restricted earlier this year. Meanwhile, Moscow has begun to develop an alternative system, though, with an estimated 26 working satellites, its capacity is limited.
Last week, after about 10 days of restriction, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, announced that “Starlink and Starshield operations have been restored” and that the speeds were “now where they need to be”.
Few believe the issue is permanently settled, with relations between Zelenskyy and Trump fraught in the run-up to the US midterm elections next Tuesday. Trump has also reached out to Putin, agreeing to buy diesel from Moscow early in October in an effort to reduce the oil price before Americans go to the polls.
Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that he hoped proposed trilateral peace talks, involving Ukraine, Russia and the US, would take place between 6 and 10 November in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, shortly after the midterms.
“We are waiting for the American side. I think that they’ll be ready with all the answers after the elections,” the Ukrainian leader said at a press conference in The Hague with Dutch prime minister Rob Jetten.
Earlier, Zelenskyy said he had spoken to Andy Burnham, the UK prime minister, as it emerged that Britain would provide £10bn in extra financing for Ukraine over the next three years – and an immediate £500m for air defence systems.
The additional aid was, Zelenskyy said, “a truly strong and very timely step” that came “as Russia needs to see and feel that Ukraine will not be left alone” as the war heads towards what is expected to be its most difficult winter yet.
John Healey, the UK chancellor, announced the extra funding as part of the government’s annual budget. “The prime minister and I called President Zelenskyy to tell him about our commitments in the budget today. He told us: ‘You’ve made my day’.”
The Dutch government also said it would provide €500m in military support for the winter, and a further €1.2bn in non-military aid, partly to help fund urgent repairs to Ukraine’s utilities and manufacturing.
Kyiv has been relentlessly attacked by Moscow this autumn as Russian forces fail to make progress on the frontlines in the east of Ukraine.
Russia launched more than 100 ballistic missiles against Kyiv and the surrounding region since the middle of October, Zelenskyy said overnight, hitting power plants and other key targets in an effort to cause a humanitarian crisis in the capital.
