Elon Musk, the SpaceX founder and CEO, once again changed his mind this past Saturday concerning the continued support of providing Ukraine with free access to Starlink Satellite services in their fight against the full-scale Russian invasion forces.
Early Friday, Musk expressed that he had made the decision to go along with the “recommendation” from one Ukrainian diplomat that told him to “f*** off,” which took place as a response to a proposal from Musk of an odd peace deal to finally put an end to the Russian war in Ukraine, by stating that SpaceX would not long be freely funding the satellite internet terminals for Starlink in Ukraine.
The comment from Musk on Friday kicked off a massive amount of criticism from pro-Ukraine activists, all of whom called for additional consequences for the billionaire entrepreneur. Musk had previously claimed that the massive deployment from SpaceX of the satellites over to Ukraine had ended up costing the company well over “$80 million and will exceed $100 million by the end of the year.”
“The hell with it,” stated Musk. “even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free.”
The hell with it … even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 15, 2022
Musk issued Ukraine a series of Starlink terminals directly after Russia kicked off its invasion of the country, and their use ended up causing a massive difference on the battlefield, letting the Ukrainian military stay connected and in communication despite the efforts from Russia to tear down copious amount of critical communications infrastructure.
A report from CNN issued this past Thursday stated that the charitable contributions were likely going to come to a quick end as the company issued a warning to the Department of Defense that it would need to begin paying millions of dollars per month in order to make sure the terminals stay connected and running.
The report claimed that a letter from SpaceX from September requested that the Pentagon pay for the continued use of the system by the Ukrainian government, which could end up costing “more than $120 million for the rest of the year and could cost close to $400 million for the next 12 months.” The director of government sales for SpaceX explained to the Pentagon, “We are not in a position to further donate terminals to Ukraine, or fund the existing terminals for an indefinite period of time.”
Earlier this month, Musk put out a poll via social media regarding his so-called peace plan, which involved the following points:
- “Redo elections of annexed regions under UN supervision. Russia leaves if that is will of the people.”
- “Crimea formally part of Russia, as it has been since 1783 (until Khrushchev’s mistake).”
- “Water supply to Crimea assured.”
- “Ukraine remains neutral.”
After being recently removed from his role as the Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany, Andrij Melnyk issued his own response to Musk’s idea by stating “F*** off is my very diplomatic reply to you @elonmusk.”
One Ukrainian Journalist also repsonded to the news from Friday, stating: “Elon Musk’s Starlink says it can no longer afford to give Ukraine 🇺🇦 free service and asks the Pentagon 🇺🇸 to pay for it. Starlink had been a game changer in the war. This comes days after Ukrainian Ambassador @MelnykAndrij told Musk to ‘f*** off.’”
Musk answered: “We’re just following his recommendation.”
We’re just following his recommendation 🤷♂️
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 14, 2022