Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky just awarded Elon Musk, the billionaire whose recent controversies have included sexual deepfakes, Nazi salutes, and so-called “jokes” about killing journalists, one of the country’s highest honors for Musk’s “outstanding personal contributions to the protection of human life and freedom.”
Musk also received the Order of Freedom for his personal contributions “to the development of relations between the peoples of Ukraine and the United States of America,” according to the decree issued on Wednesday, and it’s all thanks to the billionaire’s satellite chain.
SpaceX’s Starlink has been assisting Ukrainian forces since the early days of the war with Russia, with tangible impact on the battlefield, but the partnership has been far from smooth sailing. Musk reportedly abruptly cut Ukraine’s Starlink access in some key battlegrounds in the Black Sea in late 2022, causing chaos for Ukrainian soldiers before restoring access later. Musk also made headlines in 2023 for blocking a Ukrainian offensive when he denied Starlink access to the Ukrainian military in Crimea.
The billionaire hasn’t always been the biggest fan of the Ukrainian President either, previously accusing him of not wanting peace and mocking his comments about the Ukrainian government’s sovereignty while allegedly holding secret conversations with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. He used to communicate, for the most part, via Mykhailo Fedorov, the former Ukrainian defense minister who was fired just last month. Zelensky told reporters earlier this month that one of the reasons behind Fedorov’s dismissal was that he had provided inaccurate information about SpaceX’s decision to let Ukraine utilize Starlink access in Russian territory.
The award comes as Kyiv wants to dramatically expand its usage of Starlink. Musk currently only allows Ukrainian drones’ Starlink access inside the country’s own territory, including areas invaded by Russia, but Zelensky has been asking the billionaire for coverage deep into Russian territory. Zelensky says that the expanded satellite communications service would assist Ukraine with targeting Russian ballistic missiles and other military and economic infrastructure, which would be a huge blow to Russian forces, but Musk views the move as a “major escalation,” per the Ukrainian President’s comments. Zelensky has even asked President Trump to step in, but reportedly to no avail.
Starlink has gifted Musk an unusually high status in intergovernmental relations. Through Starlink, Musk gets to be the frequent global arbiter of who has communications access and who does not. Musk and SpaceX, through Starlink, have been key players in conflicts around the world, not just in Ukraine but also most recently in Iran. This reliance has given Musk a major say in global matters; Musk has sat in on key calls between world leaders, and Beijing has even allegedly sought assurance from him that he’ll refrain from turning Starlink on in Chinese territory, where online networks are restricted. Ukraine’s award is yet another symbol of the unprecedented, disproportionate, and potentially concerning amount of power the often fickle billionaire holds in matters usually left to elected officials. The Ukrainian Order of Freedom is usually awarded to foreign leaders, per Politico, not so much to private sector figures.
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