Elon Musk says Starlink will continue to provide free internet in Ukraine

Starlink satellite communications will continue to operate for free in Ukraine, despite SpaceX’s expenses, said company founder Elon Musk.

«To hell with it… Although Starlink is still losing money and other companies are getting billions of dollars from taxpayers, we will continue to fund the Ukrainian government for free,» the businessman tweeted.

In early October, Musk said that SpaceX had spent $ 80 million on the supply and maintenance of Starlink terminals in Ukraine, and that by the end of the year the company’s expenses would exceed $ 100 million.

on October 14, CNN reported that SpaceX had sent a letter to the US Department of Defense. In it, the company stated that it could no longer continue to finance the Starlink satellite network for Ukraine and asked the Pentagon to take over the system’s operation. SpaceX estimates that the cost of Starlink in Ukraine will reach $ 124 million by the end of the year.

Commenting on the CNN article, Musk said that SpaceX is not asking for reimbursement of previous Starlink costs for Ukraine, but also cannot «fund this system without limit.»