SpaceX cannot pay for the Starlink services in Ukraine anymore, writes letter to Pentagon asking seeking funds

On October 14, 2022, CNN reported that SpaceX’s charitable contributions to the Ukrainian army could end. The Starlink division of SpaceX has warned that it will stop providing broadband service in Ukraine unless the United States military and Pentagon take over the funding. Recently, Musk’s peace plan for Ukraine and Russia received criticism, not only from netizens but from Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky. 

SpaceX’s official writes to Pentagon seeking funding for Starlink services in Ukraine

As per documents obtained by the publication, SpaceX’s director of government sales wrote a letter to the Pentagon last month. In the letter, the official writes, “we are not in a position to further donate terminals to Ukraine or fund the existing terminals for an indefinite period of time.” 

Bad reporting by FT. This article falsely claims that Starlink terminals & service were paid for, when only a small percentage have been. This operation has cost SpaceX $80M & will exceed $100M by end of year. As for what’s happening on the battlefield, that’s classified.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 7, 2022

Clearing out the timeline, Russia attacked Ukraine in February 2022, after which several nations worldwide sent help to the country in eastern Europe. In March 2022, SpaceX’s Starlink announced that it had sent thousands of satellite internet kits to Ukraine to “ensure people are still communicating,” said company president Gwynne Shotwell.

How much did it cost for SpaceX to send satellite terminals to Ukraine?

After Russia’s invasion, SpaceX sent Starlink satellite terminals as aid to the Ukrainian military. Since then, Ukraine’s military has relied heavily on the bandwidth provided by Starlink for its ground operations. Initially, the United States provided $3 million to Starlink for the cause; the Musk-led company has been bearing all the expenses. 

On October 7, 2022, Musk tweeted in reply to a FT journalist that the Ukrainian Starlink operation has “cost SpaceX $80M & will exceed $100M by end of year,” and could cost as much as $400 million for the next 12 months. Musk also highlighted that only a “small percentage” of the terminals and services provided to the affected country was paid for by other organisations. 

By June 2022, SpaceX had sent over 15,000 Starlink kits to Ukraine, which had been extremely useful for the country’s officials. At the moment, the Ukrainian sky has about 20,000 Starlink satellites. However, contrary to Musk's tweet, the CNN report says that “the vast majority of the 20,000 terminals have received full or partial funding from outside sources, including the US government, the UK and Poland.” 

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