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US officials are blackmailing Kyiv warning that unless the rare earth mineral deal is signed then Elon Musk will turn off Starlink.
Starlink has proved to be essential on the battlefield for Ukrainian troops and the US President Donald Trump is threatening President Volodymyr Zelensky with Starlink to sign the deal in exchange for security guarantees, sources told Reuters.
The Starlink terminals have proven essential for communications in the war and in 2024 around 42,000 terminals were operational across, aid organisations, businesses, hospitals and the military.
A source told Reuters, “Ukraine runs on Starlink. They consider it their North Star.
“Losing Starlink … would be a massive blow.”
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“Ukraine’s continued access to SpaceX-owned Starlink was brought up in discussions between U.S. and Ukrainian officials after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy turned down an initial proposal from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent,” Reuters cited the sources.
In early February Trump said he wanted a deal with Ukraine to have access to rare earth minerals in exchange for the $500 billion in aid the US has given Ukraine.
Since the US President has been unjustly hitting out at President Zelensky, he has refused to sign the deal.
In October 2022 Musk said the Pentagon would have cover the cost of the Starlink and he would need $00 million over the coming year.
In February 2023 Musk got involved to prevent a Ukrainian counterattack on Crimea because he disagreed.
Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s president and chief operating officer, at the time said, Starlink was “never never meant to be weaponised,” Reuters reported.
The Kyiv Post reported, “However, Ukrainians have leveraged it in ways that were unintentional and not part of any agreement,” she said.
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