After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Elon Musk and one of his companies, SpaceX, started to provide the affected Ukrainian citizens with satellite internet. Until now, over 25,000 Starlink satellite units have been donated to Ukraine. According to Musk, this operation has cost SpaceX $80M until now, and this amount will exceed $100M by the end of the year. That’s why SpaceX sent a letter to the Defense Department and asked for help. As per the CNN report, SpaceX warned the Pentagon that they might stop providing the internet to Ukrainian citizens and the military. Of course, Musk already said that his company is not asking the US government to recoup past expenses, and the government only needs to pay for the existing system.
The US government should donate tens of millions of dollars to SpaceX if it wants to continue satellite internet coverage in Ukraine
The letter was sent in September, and SpaceX’s director of government sales asserted to the Pentagon that “We are not in a position to further donate terminals to Ukraine or fund the existing terminals for an indefinite period of time.” SpaceX says it needs over $120 million to continue its coverage in Ukraine for the rest of the year. Additionally, the total operation could cost around $400 million for the next 12 months. There are currently over 25,000 Starlink units in Ukraine, but there is also a huge demand for more units. CNN has obtained an unreported direct request from the Ukrainian military’s commanding general, General Valerii Zaluzhniy, to Elon Musk for almost 8,000 more Starlink terminals. However, the request was seemingly denied as an outside consultant working for SpaceX wrote to Pentagon that the company didn’t “have the financial ability to provide any additional terminals or service as requested by General Zaluzhniy.” Now, the Pentagon needs to decide whether they want to pay for the current Starlink service in Ukraine. With enough funding, Elon Musk seems to have no problem with Starlink continuing to operate in Ukraine. Though, a Ukrainian diplomat has recently told him to “F*** off” after Musk proposed a peace plan.
