Elon Musk told Isaacson he was worried Ukrainian attack on Russian vessels would provoke a nuclear war     

The CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Elon Musk while speaking with an audience.  AFP/File

The CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Elon Musk has once again provided a clarification as he was being excoriated for his refusal to no provide access to Starlink satellite upon the request of Ukraine over Sevastapool Crimea saying that he is a loyal US citizen who is ready to fight and die for his motherland.

Elon Musk was under international opprobrium after claims surfaced by a US author Walter Isaacson who wrote an autobiography of the billionaire asking how the 52-year-old was in the Russia-Ukraine war.

“Starlink was not meant to be involved in wars. It was so people can watch Netflix and chill and get online for school and do good peaceful things, not drone strikes,” Musk said, according to the book.

Musk told Isaacson that he was worried the Ukrainian attack on Russian vessels would provoke the Kremlin into launching a nuclear war.

A Ukrainian serviceman stands next to the antenna of the Starlink satellite-based broadband system in Bakhmut on February 9, 2023. — AFP

Starlink is a global network of over 4,000 satellites that serves over 50 countries and has worked as the connective tissue for crucial battlefield communications in Ukraine

Musk — who is also the CEO of formerly called Twitter — that he is not obliged to fight for Ukraine.

While writing on X, he said: "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."

Adding further, the tech mogul said in light of the fact that the US Congress hasn’t declared war on Russia, if anyone is treasonous, it is those who call me such. Please tell them that very clearly."

Musk had explained that Ukraine was going too far and inviting strategic defeat," according to the book.

"I think if the Ukrainian attacks had succeeded in sinking the Russian fleet, it would have been like a mini Pearl Harbor and led to a major escalation," Elon Musk was quoted in the book as saying. 

"We did not want to be a part of that."

Days earlier Musk also clarified his position citing claims that an emergency request was received from Ukraine to activate Starlink to Sevastopol — hosting the Russian Navy.

While reacting to the book's claim, Musk said on X that "SpaceX did not deactivate anything because it had not been activated in those regions in the first place." 

"The obvious intent being to sink most of the Russian fleet at anchor," he wrote. 

"If I had agreed to their request, then SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation," Musk wrote on his social media platform.

Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia Dmitry Medvedev promptly tweeted after the book's excerpts made their way to the public: "If what Isaacson has written in his book is true, then it looks like [Elon Musk] is the last adequate mind in North America."

Elon Musk earlier said that while the system had "become the connectivity backbone of Ukraine all the way up to the front lines, we are not allowing Starlink to be used for long-range drone strikes."

The billionaire had urged a truce that Ukrainians and Russians were dying "to gain and lose small pieces of land" and this was not worth their lives.

His comments also drew criticism last year after his proposal of formally recognising Crimea as part of Russia and asking residents of regions controlled by Russia to vote on which country they wanted to be part of.

Elon Musk committing, encouraging evil

A top aide of Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky, Mikhail Podoliak has alleged the 52-year-old billionaire of "committing evil" on Twitter — now X — saying “Russian naval vessels had since taken part in deadly attacks on civilians.”

"By not allowing Ukrainian drones to destroy part of the Russian military (!) fleet via Starlink interference, Elon Musk allowed this fleet to fire Kalibr missiles at Ukrainian cities," Podoliak said.

"Why do some people so desperately want to defend war criminals and their desire to commit murder? And do they now realise that they are committing evil and encouraging evil?" he added.