Elon Musk pondered pulling Starlink satellite internet from Ukraine because he feared being perceived as a warmonger in Russia, a former Pentagon official has said.

The 52 year-old South African-born billionaire expressed his concerns after Ukrainian forces reported network outages close to the front lines separating them from their Russian occupiers.

Colin Kahl, a US undersecretary of defence for policy until last month, was charged with brokering a deal to prevent Mr Musk from turning the system off altogether.

“If you turn this off, it doesn’t end the war,” Mr Kahl recalled telling the SpaceX chief, in an interview with The New Yorker.

“My inference was that he was getting nervous that Starlink’s involvement was increasingly seen in Russia as enabling the Ukrainian war effort, and was looking for a way to placate Russian concerns,” the former US official added.

Last year, Mr Musk was accused of publishing a Kremlin-friendly peace proposal, suggesting Ukraine should mirror sovereignty referendums organised b