Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, has reversed his decision to cease sponsoring the Starlink terminals delivered to Ukraine, tweeting that the business would continue to give “free” satellite internet access to the government even if it means losing money.
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
According to a CNN story on Friday, SpaceX has asked the government whether it may pay for any more terminals deployed to Ukraine, as well as current internet connections. These costs are expected to total $124 million by the end of 2022, and approximately $380 million over the following year. Musk subsequently stated on Twitter that Starlink cannot support services in Ukraine “indefinitely,” saying that Starlink is losing around $20 million per month to keep its services running.
According to Musk, Starlink has sent around 25,000 terminals to aid Ukraine’s combat operations. The service has been critical in keeping the Ukrainian military and people online throughout the conflict, as the nation continues to experience blackouts caused by Russian missile strikes and the danger of cyberattacks remains high.
Musk was chastised after polling Twitter followers on whether Ukraine should achieve “peace” with Russia by handing up Crimea and other seized territories. Andrij Melnyk, Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, responded, saying, “fuck off is my very polite response.” Later, Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov tweeted that Musk is “among the world’s top private contributors helping Ukraine” and that “Starlink is a key component of our crucial infrastructure.”