Musk calls on Ukraine's Zelensky to 'go' after satellite slowdown row

Tech billionaire Elon Musk called on Wednesday for Volodymyr Zelensky to "go" as Ukraine's leader, after insisting any disruption to the war-torn country's use of his satellite communications system was the fault of the U.S. government, not his company.

The comments came as Kyiv raised doubts over U.S. support for Ukraine in its war with Russia, accusing Washington this week of helping Moscow by failing to warn it of incoming missile strikes and hobbling Kyiv's military response through changes to the SpaceX-designed system it uses for communications.

"And so the slaughter continues," Musk wrote on X. "Time for Zelensky to go."

Musk earlier said that "any limits on speed or usage" of his SpaceX company's Starshield systems were "decided by the U.S. military and ultimately POTUS," referring to U.S. President Donald Trump.

He drew a distinction between Starshield, which Ukraine relies on for battlefield communications, and the parallel Starlink civilian satellite system, which Kyiv also deploys but is not allowed to use for offensive operations.

Musk was responding to a post on X by Ukraine's former defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who said that "Starlink connectivity at speeds of up to 160 km/h is being restored," but that "removing Starshield's speed limit entirely is now critical for Ukraine's defense."

AFP