Billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk said Friday that SpaceX cannot “indefinitely” fund the Starlink internet service in Ukraine, after a report said his rocket company had asked the Pentagon to cover the costs of the service that have helped Ukrainian forces with battlefield communications.
The letter cited by CNN claimed that SpaceX told the Pentagon that it could not continue bearing the cost of supplying the Starlink service in Ukraine, which reportedly would be almost $400 million for the next 12 months.
SpaceX has not returned a request from The Epoch Times for confirmation of the contents of the reported letter to the Pentagon.
“Bad reporting by FT,” Musk said, referring to the article’s claims that Starlink terminals and service had been paid for, adding that “only a small percentage have been.”
Starlink in Ukraine
Days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February, Musk announced that the Starlink satellite broadband internet service was being provided to Ukrainians.While Starlink delivered an information lifeline to darkened swaths of the war-torn country, it also served as a link to enable Ukrainian military drones to target Russian tanks and positions more effectively.
Shortly after Musk’s announcement regarding supplying Ukraine with Starlink, Dmitry Rogozin, then head of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, issued a strongly worded statement criticizing Musk for providing the communications service that was being put to battlefield use by Ukrainian forces.
“This is the West that we should never trust. When Russia implements its highest national interests on the territory of Ukraine, Elon Musk appears with his Starlink which was previously declared as purely civilian,” Rogozin said.
“I warned about it, but our ‘muskophiles’ said he is the light of world cosmonautics. Here, look, he has chosen the side.”
Musk later suggested Rogozin had issued a veiled threat against his life over the Starlink service to Ukraine.
Ukraine’s outgoing Ambassador to Germany, Andrij Melnyk, condemned Musk’s proposal in harsh terms, saying on Twitter: “[expletive] off is my very diplomatic reply to you @elonmusk.”
Musk reacted to Melnyk’s remark while responding to a post by Kyiv Post correspondent Jason Smart, who cited Melnyk’s comment, called Starlink a “game changer in the war,” and said SpaceX had asked the Pentagon to start paying for the service.