Elon Musk has knowledgeable the Pentagon that SpaceX can not afford to fund Starlink service or donate terminals to Ukraine after offering important communications companies to the besieged nation for seven months.
Starting shortly after Russia first invaded Ukraine in February, SpaceX has been providing Starlink terminals to bolster Ukraine’s communications in gentle of widespread destruction of vital infrastructure. In response, many Ukrainian officers, together with the nation’s Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Federov, have praised Musk and Starlink for the help.
Now, it seems that SpaceX’s obvious goodwill in direction of Ukraine is in jeopardy. In accordance with a report by CNN (opens in new tab) that was later confirmed by Musk on Twitter, SpaceX will not fund Starlink service all through Ukraine because of the immense prices of preserving the service operational.
Associated: SpaceX and USAID deliver 5,000 Starlink internet terminals to Ukraine
SpaceX despatched the Pentagon a letter in September stating it could actually not proceed to fund Starlink service over Ukraine, according to documents reviewed by CNN (opens in new tab). In accordance with the report, SpaceX “requested that the Pentagon take over funding for Ukraine’s authorities and army use of Starlink, which SpaceX claims would value greater than $120 million for the remainder of the yr and will value near $400 million for the following 12 months.”
“We’re not able to additional donate terminals to Ukraine, or fund the present terminals for an indefinite time frame,” the letter continues.
The report comes simply days after the Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Andrij Melnyk tweeted an expletive-laden message (opens in new tab) at Musk telling him to, extra colorfully, get misplaced after the SpaceX CEO provided his own idea (opens in new tab) of a Ukraine-Russia peace deal that known as for Ukraine to cede Crimea to Russia, amongst different measures.
On Friday (Oct. 14), Musk tweeted that SpaceX is solely following Melnyk’s recommendation (opens in new tab)by terminating their funding of Starlink in Ukraine.Â
The report detailing SpaceX’s plans to cease funding Starlink protection is not the one stir Musk has induced this week. On Wednesday (Oct. 12), Ian Bremmer, a political scientist who leads a consulting agency and media firm, claimed that Musk has spoken directly with Russian President (opens in new tab) Vladimir Putin in regards to the Ukraine invasion in current weeks. Musk denied the allegations.
On Thursday (Oct. 13), experiences surfaced that Musk is now under investigation by U.S. federal authorities (opens in new tab) over his plans to purchase Twitter for $44 billion. The precise causes for the investigation are unknown.
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