For about ten days this month, Ukrainian drones kept losing their connection. Pilots who depend on satellite links to find and hit targets suddenly found themselves flying half-blind. Then, on Wednesday, Vladimir Putin stood at the Russia-Africa Summit and praised the man whose network makes those links possible. "Elon Musk is a genius, truly a genius," he said, adding that Russia is "only taking the first steps" in space-based internet.

Those steps are called Rassvet, Russia's planned answer to Starlink. Putin claimed he and Musk are in "close contact" about it, though no details were given and nothing has been independently confirmed. The contrast he drew was deliberate: Musk's company, he noted, already has more than 5,000 satellites in orbit, while Moscow is still at the beginning. Speaking in front of African leaders, he was also advertising Russia as a future connectivity partner for countries that might otherwise buy American.

The timing matters. The United States recently eased some sanctions on Russia, and Ukrainian officials feared they might lose Starshield, the military version of Starlink on which their forces rely. The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk ordered SpaceX to restrict Ukraine's access, although other reports blame the White House. Musk said on X that Ukraine had broken the terms of service by using the technology for "offensive drone strikes.

" He also wrote that without Starlink, the Ukrainian front line "would collapse immediately", which he called a statement of fact, not a threat.