SpaceX CEO Elon Musk reversed his decision to stop funding the Starlink terminals sent to Ukraine, saying on Twitter that the company will continue to provide “free” satellite internet service to the government even if it means the company loses money.
“The hell with it,” Musk writes on Twitter. “Even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free.”
The hell with it … even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 15, 2022
On Friday, a report from CNN revealed that SpaceX asked the government if it can pay for any additional terminals sent to Ukraine, as well as for existing internet services. These expenses could reportedly amount to about $124 million by the end of 2022 and nearly $380 million over the next 12 months. Musk later added on Twitter that Starlink can’t fund services in Ukraine “indefinitely,” noting in another tweet that Starlink’s losing about $20 million a month to maintain its services.
According to Musk, Starlink has sent about 25,000 terminals to help Ukraine’s war efforts. The service has played an important role in keeping the Ukrainian military and civilians online during the war, as the country continues to suffer blackouts from Russia’s missile strikes, and the risk of cyberattacks remains high.
Musk faced criticism after polling Twitter users whether Ukraine should achieve “peace” with Russia by surrendering Crimea and other annexed regions. This prompted a reply from Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, Andrij Melnyk, who said “fuck off is my very diplomatic reply.” Ukrainian vice prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov later tweeted that Musk “is among the world’s top private donors supporting Ukraine,” and that “Starlink is an essential element of our critical infrastructure.”
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