Over the weekend, Elon Musk verbally sparred with an unlikely rival on Twitter: astronaut Scott Kelly.

The former astronaut and US Navy Captain tweeted at Musk, “Ukraine desperately needs your continued support. Please restore the full functionality of your Starlink satellites. Defense from a genocidal invasion is not an offensive capability. It’s survival. Innocent lives will be lost. You can help. Thank you.”

Musk clearly wants to focus on the big picture, however, which is not (to him) saving lives – it’s preventing escalation into a catastrophic worldwide conflict.

Musk replied to Kelly, “You’re smart enough not to swallow media & other propaganda bs.

Starlink is the communication backbone of Ukraine, especially at the front lines, where almost all other Internet connectivity has been destroyed.

But we will not enable escalation of conflict that may lead to WW3.”

Musk later responded to another comment in the thread, “SpaceX commercial terminals, like other commercial products, are meant for private use, not military, but we have not exercised our right to turn them off.

We’re trying hard to do the right thing, where the ‘right thing’ is an extremely difficult moral question.”

It’s not the first time Musk has signaled an unwillingness to interfere in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, but it’s another verification that he believes World War III could be on the horizon if the current situation is not handled carefully.