Elon Musk said Saturday that his company SpaceX will continue to pay for Starlink satellite internet in war-torn Ukraine, a day after the tech mogul suggested he could no longer fund the project.
Starlink, a constellation of more than 3,000 small satellites in low Earth orbit, has been vital in Ukraine’s communications in the fight against Russia.
But Musk has recently been embroiled in public rows with Ukrainian leaders, who have been angered by his controversial proposals to de-escalate the conflict, which included recognizing Russian sovereignty over Crimea.
“The hell with that,” Musk, the richest man in the world, wrote on Twitter.
“Although Starlink is still losing money and other companies are receiving billions in taxpayers’ money, we will continue to fund the Ukrainian government for free.”
In a series of tweets on Friday, Musk detailed the logistics of the operation, saying it’s costing SpaceX nearly $20 million a month and hinting that the company won’t be able to fund it indefinitely.
Meanwhile, the US military confirmed it is communicating with the billionaire’s company about key network funding.
“SpaceX isn’t requiring to recoup past expenses, but neither can it fund the existing system indefinitely *and* broadcast several thousand more terminals that have up to 100 times the data usage of typical households,” he said Friday.
– Pentagon funding on cards? –
According to an updated figure from Musk last week, SpaceX has donated around 25,000 ground terminals to Ukraine.
He says the SpaceX operation has already cost $80 million, and the total is expected to surpass $100 million by the end of the year.
Musk also appeared to confirm a report by CNN that said he had warned the Pentagon that its financial contributions were ending and that the military would have to foot the bill.
According to CNN, SpaceX figures shared with the Pentagon show that about 85 percent of the first 20,000 terminals in Ukraine were at least partially paid for by countries like the United States, Poland or other entities that also paid for about 30 percent of internet connectivity.
Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said Friday the Pentagon is in touch with Musk regarding the funding issue and said it has “received correspondence from SpaceX regarding the funding… of their satellite communications product in Ukraine.”
Musk had recently fallen out with Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, after proposing a peace deal that would include repeating contentious referenda in the Russian-held territories of Ukraine – an idea welcomed by Moscow.
A senior adviser to the President of Ukraine, Mykhaylo Podolyak, acknowledged the importance of Starlink in a tweet on Friday.
“Like it or not, @elonmusk has helped us get through the most critical moments of the war,” Podolyak wrote, adding that Ukraine “will find a solution to keep #Starlink going.”
