Elon Musk joins Donald Trump's call with Ukraine's Zelensky

Elon Musk joined a call Wednesday between President-elect Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said four people familiar with the matter, in the latest sign that the tech billionaire intends to intertwine himself with Trump’s governing apparatus.

The call began with a conversation between Trump and Zelensky, who remarked how valuable Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service was, said one of the people familiar with their conversation, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversation. Trump noted that Musk was with him, and then put him on the call.

“It was very pleasant,” a Ukrainian official said of the exchange. Zelensky “thanked” Musk for the Starlink terminals Ukraine relies on for much wartime communication, the official added.

Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ukraine relies heavily on Starlink to provide secure communication among front-line troops and to allow constant battlefield monitoring in command centers, where internet access may otherwise be spotty if not nonexistent.

Axios first reported Musk’s involvement in the call.

Ukrainian officials came away from the call with the assumption that Musk, one of Trump’s largest donors, was going to join additional calls between the president-elect and world leaders as U.S. allies and adversaries scramble to prepare for a change of U.S. leadership following this week’s election.

The discussion also underscored how important Musk’s sprawling portfolio of properties are to foreign countries.

Tens of thousands of Starlink devices, many spraypainted in camouflage colors to avoid detection from Russian drones, dot Ukraine’s front lines and are often attached to the roofs of soldiers’ vehicles.

They also allow soldiers to put their phones on airplane mode to use the internet, reducing the likelihood that Russian troops will detect Ukrainian positions through the presence of active phones pinging off cell towers. Starlink services were initially provided to Ukraine for free after the war began in 2022, but Musk later threatened to cut the service off entirely. He then billed the Pentagon for Ukraine’s usage of the system.

Ukrainian troops say that despite Starlink being banned in Russia, Russian troops have managed to obtain some terminals, fueling their advance on the battlefield. Ukrainian troops operating inside Russia’s Kursk region, where they control a large swath of territory, have felt firsthand the threat of disconnection from satellite internet. They have had to learn to operate without consistent communications and have dug into positions in areas where they can trick Starlink into thinking they are still in Ukraine, troops say.