re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict.

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I am not a Trump fan but this wasn't his fault. It sounds like he and Elon were pointing the finger at each other and looking confused, and then we find out the call was coming from inside the house.

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Trump lost his key spokes person and replaced her with an inept person. Bad.
And whomever is advising him is dropping the ball. It’s a key time and things appear to be falling apart.

I’m afraid the next two years is going to be a shite show.

Elon Musk weighs in

Musk later said that Ukraine's military violated the terms of service for Starlink, adding that the "loophole" has now been closed.

Ukraine's "military violated Starlink terms of service and used it for offensive drone strikes to kill people. That loophole was closed last week," he said in a post to X.

"Were Starlink to be turned off, the Ukrainian front line would collapse immediately. This is not a threat, it is simply a statement of fact," Musk said.

He also claimed that SpaceX has done more than any other company to help Ukraine in its fight against Russia's war.

Ukrainian activist and former Defense Ministry adviser Serhii Sternenko denied that Ukraine violated Starlink's terms of service.

"As someone who was inside the process at the Ministry of Defense, I can say with certainty that this is not true. In February of this year, whitelists were introduced. Stationary terminals could be registered by both military personnel and civilians," he said in a post to X.

"But for any satellite terminal to work while on the move, it had to be added to a special list and connected to the military Starshield system. Otherwise, no satellite communication terminals in Ukraine would work," Sternenko added.

Using Starlink for drone missions has been "technically impossible" since all drone campaigns that require satellite communications would only work with the military Starshield service, he said.

Presidential adviser Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov also denied Musk's claims, saying that all Starlink terminals operating in Ukraine have a speed restriction of 70-90 kilometers an hour and do not work on Russian territory.

Kyiv Independent

asking good questions..

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2/ Ukraine are now saying that normal service has been restored, so what happened? Are they now complying, did they renegotiate or was it Starshield being controlled by the Pentagon all along?

3/ Musk needs to be specific, about what changed? What terms did Ukraine suddenly violate on the very day that Trump started to put pressure on Ukraine and eased pressure on Russia - or is that just an unhappy coincidence?

4/ Why the moral concern now, when Starshield is capable of offensive action? And his rather weak attempt to excuse his recent intervention because 4 years ago he did the right thing is merely out of date virtue signalling. And if it was the right thing then why not now?

5/ And as for his very thinly veiled threat that he could turn Starlink off all together, that sounds like an attempt to avoid any comeback from Ukraine. And why threaten senior US politicians last week, when all he had to do was show the contract terms?

6/ I’m sorry Mr Musk this all sounds a bit too far fetched and all a bit too late. The fact that normal service appears to have been resumed seems the most obvious counter to this weak and delayed excuse for the needless loss of life over the last week or so.

POST NOTE. I also wonder if he’s confused about what is an offensive, and what is a defensive mission. You have to kill a lot of Russians on your own territory when they invade. Or doesn’t he believe in the inherent right to self-defence?

Elon attempting to conflate StarLink and StarShield

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Russian sanctions update...

Sanctioned Russian energy giant secretly funded US gas project, NYT reports

October 25, 2026 3:29 am

The Russian company Novatek has been secretly funding a multibillion-dollar U.S. gas project that has been discussed in negotiations between the White House and the Kremlin over ending the war in Ukraine, the New York Times (NYT) first reported on Oct. 23.

Novatek is Russia's second-largest producer of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and has been subject to U.S. sanctions since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Polar LNG, an American company aiming to liquefy and export natural gas from Alaska, received secret funding from Novatek in potential violation of sanctions, the NYT reported, citing the company's former CEO and two other sources familiar with the matter.

John Riddle, former CEO of Polar LNG, resigned from the company in September after learning about the hidden ties to Novatek. Riddle said he had been told the funding came from a company in the United Arab Emirates.

"It's not only unlawful, but it's not in the U.S. interest to have Russian technology controlling the commercialization of Arctic gas in the North Slope," Riddle told the NYT.

Riddle said he notified officials in the Trump administration about the secret Russian financing and urged them to investigate the situation.

Novatek was not only channeling funds to Polar LNG — it was negotiating a deal to sell technology to the U.S. company as part of a business agreement between Washington and Moscow. U.S. peace envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner discussed the proposal with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their visit in September, sources told the NYT.

It is not clear whether Witkoff or Kushner were aware of the financial relationship between Novatek and Polar LNG, as the deal was only broadly discussed, sources said.

Kyiv Independent

Bessent spoke clearly on Russia's exports and how Europe has been funding the war for 4 years.

News Media are all phucktards. Social media dumbs people down for the most part.

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it was negotiating a deal to sell technology to the U.S. company as part of a business agreement

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I don't know how much of this to believe. LNG technology was developed by Conoco with the very first LNG liquefaction plant and loading terminal at Lake Charles, LA in the 1950's Russia's LNG plants were made in China as modules using US company technology. Modules were not shipped for an expansion due sanctions in 2022 or 2023, I forget which year.

Hilcorp and Harvest Midstream are very major partners with Hilcorp supplying natural gas on the North Slope and Harvest having purchased the site of the old shuttered LNG plant from Marathon early this year. The old liquefaction plant was built and operated by Conoco for decades. It's way to small and will be removed and replaced. The cryogenic tanks will remain and another dock added.

Hilcorp and Harvest have the same owner.

I have personally been in discussions with Harvest to purchase the old plant, dismantle it then sell to Argentina or to SpaceX Pecan Island.

More from Elon

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The Starlink equipment doesn't know the difference between offensive and defensive operations, it just marks the location of the drone and facilitates communication

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Want to show me where I claimed that it does?

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Sure.

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Pictured, a Starlink Mini on a Ukranian drone. Starlink mini is used with the commercial version of Starlink, and can only be used for defense hence the limits.

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Posting a tweet is not necessarily an endorsement of every single word in the tweet.

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Uh, yeah, it is. You post it, you own it. If it's wrong and has been proven to be wrong, i.e., "Starlink mini is used with the commercial version of Starlink, and can only be used for defense hence the limits", then you have two choices. Either admit you were wrong and retract, or you double down on your ignorance by insisting it's not wrong. I think we all can see your choice.