The recent scandal sparked by the release of excerpts from Elon Musk's biography is associated with the alleged intervention of the businessman in the operation of Starlink. It became known that the billionaire ordered the shutdown of Starlink near the coast of Crimea in 2022. It is believed that this hindered Ukraine's ability to strike at Russia's Black Sea Fleet.

During his address at the annual Yalta European Strategy meeting, Kirill Budanov, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR), pointed out that the real situation differed from how it was portrayed in the media. This was reported by the Interfax-Ukraine agency.

Budanov shared his opinion on the scandal, stating, "Personally, I'm not convinced that Mr. Elon Musk was operating some mythical buttons to halt the operation of certain devices. This is my personal belief. The fact that Starlink systems were not operational for a certain period near Crimea, I can absolutely confirm, as we also employed certain techniques... We immediately realised that there was simply no coverage there. That's probably all I can say about it."

Budanov also emphasised the crucial role of the Starlink satellite internet systems, which, in his words, are performing well on the front lines and continue to provide communication. He added, "They have proven themselves quite well on the front lines. You can say a lot about whether they are good or bad, but there are facts - the entire front line operates on them."

Elon Musk himself refuted this information on social media, stating that he did not shut anything down but simply refused to provide coverage at Ukraine's request. It was also revealed that the businessman sent a personal letter regarding Starlink to his biographer, Walter Isaacson, involving Ukraine's Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov without the latter's permission.