Elon Musk accuses Ukraine military of violating Starlink terms

The mystery over Ukraines. access to Starlink takes another turn. This morning, Elon Musk is accusing Ukraine's military. of violating Starlink's terms of service. by using the network. for, quote. unquote, offensive. drone strikes to kill people. Ukrainian officials. deny that that even happened, but still unclear is. who made the call in the first place. to throttle. these connections critical. to Ukraine's ability. to survive on the battlefield. CNN's Sebastian. Shukla is tracking this one. for us and joining us right now.

What are you hearing now? Yeah. Good afternoon Kate. Well, whilst. Starlink may be back up. and operational fully. for the Ukrainian armed forces, what seems to be very much. the case is the relationship in the speed. and connection between Washington. and Kiev is still very much down, because we now have this briefing. where the two sides are saying. what they appear to be at complete odds. with one another. The Ukrainians. saying that we, of course, do not use.

Starlink, a civilian service, to launch our medium and long range. drone strikes into Russian territory. for a couple of reasons. One, that that is not allowed. under the service agreement. But secondly, that Starlink is not operational. in Russia, therefore. making it almost impossible. for them to be able to use it. for that purpose. Whereas Elon Musk is saying. the converse to that, he is saying. that they have used Starlink, the civilian version, to target Russia and to kill civilians.

It is all boiling down again and focusing. on the idea of this relationship. between Kyiv and Washington, which has taken a very serious. turn for the worse in the last few weeks. It began with the president. unleashing Russian Russian. diesel onto the market. whilst his negotiators were meeting. with the Ukrainians in Miami. Then we had a spat. and a disagreement again. over intelligence sharing. and whether the US. was still providing it or not. And now. we've had the Starlink on top of that.

The main thing for the Ukrainians. is that Starlink is back operational. Its units on the ground. are being able to use it at the speeds. they were before, which means that they are protected. or able to protect themselves, that give them the best opportunity. to protect them from drones. that they use this Starlink service for. We are joined. now by CNN contributor and former. CNN Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty. Jill, thank you so much for being here. with us. Let's start. first with that, the Starlink situation there in Ukraine. What is your read on. the current situation?

Confused? I would say I. mean, it really is confusing, and complex because it's technically. quite complex, militarily complex. and politically complex. But essentially. Right. You have Moscow over here saying. they violated terms of agreement. and that they were using it. for strikes into Russia to kill people. And the Ukrainians are saying. that's impossible.

because the Starlink system, which is used, let's say, inside. Ukraine, is throttle. and has been for quite a while. There are limits on the speed. And besides, it doesn't work in Russia. So you have both sides, you know, disagreeing with each other. and remember. Yeah, over the past week. or so. we've been dealing. with a lot of confusion. and you almost could say obfuscation. It could be deliberate. Maybe not.

But it's certainly very strange. that nobody in the beginning. was able to even define. who gave the order. Later, Musk admitted that he did so. This is confusing, but I'd say the bottom line. now is. Ukraine is saying. the systems are back, they are working properly. But there has been a lot of damage. because Russia. at the moment that they saw. this was happening. has really been unleashing. unprecedented numbers. Drones, missiles, etc.. And, you know,

you just reported on. some of the damage that has been created. So joining me now, CNN contributor Kara swisher. Kara, good morning. Always amazing to see you. Thank you. Morning. Here. So I was saying earlier, you know, at first. people speculated that Elon Musk. was somehow involved. He denied. he had control over this access. Then it came out that. maybe he had talked to Trump. So where are we now? Why is he talking about this now? Because he did it. Because it's because he did it. I mean, I didn't speculate.

that he was telling the truth. I didn't think he was in the first place. You know, he's got, you know, things are coming to roost, unfortunately for him. And they couldn't eventually there was a. people are going to find out it was him. I'm not sure why. he did that tweet in the first place. Maybe he was up late. and forgot. to tell the truth at the time, but, but you know, he's in charge of Starlink. And the issue is. why is an unaccountable, unelected person. making battlefield decisions without any, It's just it's just boggles. the mind that we're even discussing.

that one person can do that. as a citizen and private citizen does. It boggles the mind, considering. his relationship with Trump. It always does for me. I feel like people who are unelected. and unaccountable. and the richest people person on earth. shouldn't be able to make. battlefield decisions. I just don't I just want this. one of my short, weird things. I have a couple of things I think. are important. No, I. it means that Trump is not in charge of, of what's happening here. I mean, I don't even know what I understand. how he can make such a decision.

without cooperation. from the Defense Department. or if the Defense Department. was asking him to do that. I mean, it will all have to be. sorted out eventually, but it's really quite frightening. that he could make these. make these decisions and people's lives. Hang in the balance. Something you said, ahead of the elections. when Elon was putting. a lot of money into Trump, is that he has a lot of business. interest, right? That drive decision making. Yeah. And then I thought about that. as he has spent in Texas.

Right. Putting. 158 million donation to boost Ken Paxton. Probably more. Yeah. Here's an example of, actually Rico Talarico. talking about that. I just want to play it for you. He almost wants our land. He wants our land. He wants our taxpayer dollars. He wants his very own personal. United States senator. He is trying to buy Texas. But on November 3rd,

we are going to deliver. a crystal clear message. to the world's first trillionaire. Texas is not for sale. Given the scale. of his campaign. contributions, 366 million. Is this just about, again. his relationship to the party, or do you see something else at work? Well, in Texas, he has a facility. and he's moved there. so he could do whatever he wants. He's got the courts, you know, in his favor. He always does lawsuits down there.

You know, the governor does. whatever he says. So he essentially owns the state. and gets to do whatever he wants. And if James Taylor Rico is senator, I mean, he's freaking out. I don't know if you seen. how many posts he does. Yeah. It's almost like. he has a Giga factory for Tesla. in Austin. He does? Yeah, the Boca Chica starbase. And then the corporate headquarters. for everything. So the leadership of. Texas matters to him, right? Of course, because they've. been so cooperative. And I would say. doormats is the word I would use.

And so he moved there because California. wasn't. always going along with everything. Although I think California. was very supportive of him. It just wasn't supportive. enough for his tastes. And so he moved down there, and now the prospect of Talarico. is freaking him out. and that's why. he makes all these accusations. about trans things. He just he. And then the money. I like, like, let's not focus on his silly tweets. because he does them. like every five seconds about Talarico. But let's talk about the, the money. I mean, just. this amount of money is unprecedented.

That one single person. puts this much money. into the midterm. elections and is, it's obviously for economic interests, which is, I think, something. I told you years ago when he was backing. Trump is every economic interest. And that's all you have to pay. attention to. Let's get away from all. his strange tweets and his problem. there was so problematic on. Also, I have to say. he finally was taking a shot. at you right? Like all of a sudden. now by the sword, die by the sword. It sounds like Swisher. really wants to go to prison.

Yeah, I guess. you know what Mossberg, who was my long time partner, is that the only way. I'm going to go to prison is. if I'm interviewing him there? I'm like Nathan Fielder. So, no, I'm not going to prison. It's just ridiculous. He didn't just attack. He's done attacking me. He would attack the bulwark. He attacked Congress. I forget he's attacking. someone new every day. And it's always live by the sword. Die by the sword. I don't even understand. I don't know what to say about that. Yeah. It's just, you know, he's obviously tweaked. You know, it was strange.

And it's actually quite dangerous. I it's just to do that, especially to Congress. I mean, he and I have a weird. and strange relationship, but, but honestly, to say that to. Congress. is really quite dangerous. in my estimation. But this is what he does. This is how he acts. And it's never about the thing. And the thing is about the money. You know, he can say all the mean things he wants. He can tweet all he wants. He can dance on stages. with with chainsaws. But the fact money. and this is all in his economic interests. and that's what we should be paying. attention to.

Okay. Kara Swisher saying follow the money. Kara, always good to talk to you.