Elon Musk & Trump Are Throwing Ukraine Under The Bus

Piers Morgan (0:00)

I mean, he's throwing you under a massive bus there. He wants you out.

Volodymyr Zelensky (0:04)

Yeah.

Piers Morgan (0:05)

What is your message to Elon Musk?

Volodymyr Zelensky (0:07)

No, it's a big mistake. A lot of losses.

This season will bring a lot of human losses.

Piers Morgan (0:13)

If people are dying because of this decision.

Volodymyr Zelensky (0:15)

Of course, people will die. If Starlink will not work, of course, I mean, it's not helpful.

John Johnston (0:21)

Hi, everyone, JJ here. Welcome back to The Lounge. Will Elon Musk and Donald Trump throwing Ukraine under the bus while the war still rages on there? I'm referring to this. This news came through. Ukraine blindsided by Starlink restrictions and intelligence gaps during Russian attack. So what is going on here? It does involve Starlink. So Ukraine accuses Elon Musk, SpaceX, of restricting Starlink access without warning disrupting Ukrainian military drone operations. Ukrainian officials say new speed restrictions are causing Starlink connections to cut out on fast-moving drones, forcing troops to cancel missions. So back in October 11th, Trump said, we told Zelensky, you can do whatever you want to Russia, but don't hit the refineries because that's a world problem. And what does he do? He goes and hits the diesel fuel. He better damn well stop. I mean, Trump not talking about the Iran War and what he's doing there to cause the oil prices, petrol prices, gasoline prices to go up around the world. And Elon Musk chimed in there, replying, Zelensky has gone too far. And then there was the bombing of the data centers, which reportedly caused a lot of Russian bots on X, for instance, to disappear all of a sudden. And I have noticed that. And this is while Poland's foreign minister hit back at Elon Musk after Ukrainian units reported new restrictions to SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet system overnight. So Poland obviously also concerned. I mean, the whole of Europe being concerned about this situation, but Poland right on the border there. Germany also concerned. I mean, Poland with its history, it's got to be concerned, right? So what is Elon Musk doing? Meddling in European politics and seemingly siding with Russia in this war.

And Hillary Clinton says, Elon Musk, you've been an underdog and never quit fighting for your ideas. Don't abandon Ukrainians as they fight for their lives and freedom against an aggressor. And she's highlighting Ukraine blindsided by Starlink restrictions and intelligence gaps. But was it Elon? So Elon here, Musk says, any decision to restrict Starlink slash StarShield still involves Starlink, but the military side of it. So saying the decision was made by Trump doesn't deny it happened though. And Elon Musk tweet about this. StarShield systems are owned and controlled by the US government. Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS. And Trump, Starlink is a commercial service owned and controlled by SpaceX. Usage of Starlink is limited to civilian and defense activities and cannot be used for offensive military action as doing so would be inappropriate for a commercial company. Not that breaking the rules or bending the rules would bother Elon. Now we're going to hear from Zelensky in a minute what he said, what his message to Elon Musk and Trump as well.

But this as well, now Elon blaming really the Trump administration or Trump. Elon blames the White House for Starlink blackout and then the White House blames SpaceX. White House officials told the Ukrainians they don't have control over SpaceX, the sources said. One of the sources said the Trump administration is going to reach out to SpaceX to figure out what happened.

That's not an official statement from the White House, obviously. And one investor here, one investor in Tesla and critic of Elon says Elon is blaming Trump for throttling Starlink and helping the enemies of America, being Russia.

And here somebody else chimes in, Earl of Frankpapi, who's often pretty funny, says Elon imposing Starlink restrictions to Ukraine as he grieves the loss of his Russian bot friends and his posts have noticeably been getting fewer interactions on them. So you wonder how much of the traffic on X, how much of Elon's supporters were actually Russian bots, right? That's what people have been saying. And here another meme with Putin.

If you're just listening to this Putin treating Trump and Elon together like puppets. So let's hear from Zelensky. This is an interview with Piers Morgan. This is a really interesting interview actually. I don't agree with a lot of what Piers Morgan often says, but this is really interesting. It's over an hour long and there's a debate after with a bunch of people where they're talking about should Ukraine just give territory over to the Russians and end this war like that, do a deal. And Piers Morgan points out, and as a lot of people think, giving that much, like a third of Ukraine, for instance, is giving it away to Russia.