\t\t\t\t![\"Elon](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2292497931-e1788456307362.jpg\")
Elon Musk is seen on a screen as he virtually attends the G20 Innovation Ministerial summit next to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on Sept. 1, 2026. Matt RAMEY \/ AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
On Aug. 26, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree awarding an Order of Freedom medal, one of the nation\u2019s highest state honors, to Elon Musk<\/a>. The medal is the latest and least subtle instrument in a monthslong campaign to persuade the SpaceX<\/a> CEO to let Ukrainian drones use Starlink over Russian territory, which would allow Ukraine to hunt the mobile launchers now hitting its cities. A week has passed, and Musk has not acknowledged it yet.<\/p>\n SpaceX has allowed Starlink inside Ukraine, including Russian-occupied territory, since the war broke out in February 2022, but\u00a0Musk has refused the use of Starlink in Russian airspace, arguing that it would escalate the war and that the two sides should settle. <\/p>\n The urgency is not hard to explain. \u201cWinter is coming. Ukraine is low on anti-ballistic missile defenses,\u201d Mikhail Alexseev<\/a>, a political scientist at San Diego State University, told Observer. \u201cRussia exploits this weakness and pounds Ukraine almost daily with deadly barrages of ballistic missile attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe shortage of anti-ballistic missile defenses is hard to overcome within the next few months,\u201d Alexseeve added, noting that extending Starlink access to Russian territory would help Ukraine destroy Russia\u2019s ballistic missile launchers. \u201cTime indeed is of the essence.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt appears that Elon Musk is primarily worried that authorizing a new use of Starlink by Ukraine would be perceived as a highly escalatory act by Russia,\u201d Victoria Samson<\/a>, chief director of space security and stability at the Secure World Foundation, a private foundation, told Observer.\u00a0<\/p>\n Zelenskyy is making the case himself because he no longer has anyone to make it for him.\u00a0Mykhailo Fedorov<\/a>, Zelenskyy\u2019s defense minister and Ukraine\u2019s primary correspondent with Musk, was\u00a0dismissed\u00a0<\/a>in July over disagreements on war strategy with commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Zelenskyy has already tried the obvious intermediary. At the White House on July 28, he asked President Donald Trump<\/a> to intercede with Musk. Trump declined. Now, he has taken to making the case in public.<\/p>\n \u201c[Musk] may change his mind once he sees further arguments<\/a>,\u201d Zelenskyy told reporters on Aug. 22, adding that allowing Starlink in Russia will\u00a0reduce \u201cprecisely those capabilities that Russia is relying on to drag out the war.\u201d<\/p>\n Musk has periodically expressed his views on the war in Ukraine. He proposed a peace deal<\/a> as early as October 2022, just eight months after Russia invaded Ukraine. He called for new elections in Crimea under the United Nations\u2019 supervision.<\/p>\n Musk\u2019s ties to Putin<\/p>\n Musk cannot favor one side over the other in this war, as he also has high-level contacts in Moscow.<\/p>\n The Wall Street Journal<\/a> reported in October 2024 that the SpaceX boss has had \u201csecret conversations\u201d and \u201cregular contact\u201d with Russian President Vladimir Putin<\/a> himself since at least the end of 2022. The two discussed personal topics, business and geopolitical tensions, according to the Journal, citing U.S., European and Russian officials. The report further noted that Putin even asked Musk not to enable Starlink over Taiwan as a favor to Chinese President Xi Jinping<\/a>, a Putin ally. A Kremlin spokesman denied the Journal\u2019s account, insisting Musk and Putin have spoken only once. Starlink isn\u2019t currently available in Taiwan.\u00a0<\/p>\n Another Putin ally, Russian billionaire and politician Suleyman Kerimov<\/a>, is reported to own at least a 1 percent stake<\/a> in SpaceX through a trust managed by Citigroup, Bloomberg reported in early 2025, despite sanctions imposed upon him by the U.S. in 2018 for aiding Putin\u2019s invasion of Crimea.<\/p>\n Musk\u2019s alleged ties to the Kremlin prompted some U.S. Democrats to call<\/a> for an investigation into these links, given Musk\u2019s status as a major defense contractor with top-secret security clearance.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTypically, our defense contractors, and that\u2019s what Musk wants to be, do not deal with Russia in any way, shape or form\u2014and the same rule should apply to him,\u201d Sen. Jack Reed<\/a> of Rhode Island, the senior Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said in May 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reed and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen<\/a> of New Hampshire, another top Democrat on the Committee, warned that Musk\u2019s links to Putin \u201cpose serious questions regarding Mr. Musk\u2019s reliability as a government contractor and a clearance holder.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n More recently, The Guardian reported that Musk\u2019s family foundation financed a trip to Moscow in June on behalf of Tommy Robinson<\/a>, a far-right British activist. Robinson reportedly met with Russian business officials during his trip. <\/p>\n