Elon Musk said Friday his company SpaceX wouldn't be able to fund the
Starlink satellite internet network over Ukraine indefinitely, amid reports he
had asked the US military to cover the costs.
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The move comes as Musk has been embroiled in public spats with Ukranian
leaders who were angered by his controversial proposals for de-escalating the
conflict, which included acknowledging Russian sovereignty over Crimea.
Starlink, a constellation of over 3,000 small satellites in low Earth orbit,
has been vital to Ukraine's war effort against Russia, with SpaceX donating
some 25,000 ground terminals, according to an updated figure given by Musk last
week.
In a series of tweets, the world's richest man appeared to confirm a report
by CNN saying he had written to the Pentagon warning that his financial
contributions would come to an end, and that they would need to foot the bill.
"SpaceX is not asking to recoup past expenses, but also cannot fund the
existing system indefinitely *and* send several thousand more terminals that
have data usage up to 100X greater than typical households," he
tweeted.
"This is unreasonable."
Musk said the operation has already cost SpaceX $80 million and is projected
to exceed $100 million by the end of the year.
But CNN said SpaceX figures shared with the Pentagon show about 85 percent
of the first 20,000 terminals in Ukraine were paid at least in part by countries
like the US, Poland, or other entities.
They also paid for about 30 percent of internet connectivity.
- 'Following his
recommendation' -
In overnight replies on Twitter on Friday, Musk expanded on the logistics of
the operation.
"In addition to terminals, we have to create, launch, maintain &
replenish satellites & ground stations & pay telcos for access to
Internet via gateways," he said.
"We've also had to defend against cyberattacks & jamming, which are
getting harder. Burn is approaching ~$20M/month."
Musk has recently been in a spat with Ukrainian officials including
President Volodymyr Zelensky after suggesting a peace deal that involved
re-running controversial referenda in Russian-occupied territories in
Ukraine.
Musk's proposals were welcomed by Russia.
In response, Kyiv's ambassador to Germany Andriy Melnyk weighed in, telling
Musk to "fuck off."
"We're just following his recommendation," Musk tweeted Friday,
along with the shrug emoji.
According to CNN, SpaceX documents sent to the Pentagon said Ukraine had
asked for 8,000 more Starlink terminals in July.
The Financial Times meanwhile has reported Starlink outages hit Ukrainian
forces on the frontline, hindering their ability to liberate Russian-controlled
areas in the east of the country, but the situation later improved.
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