Elon Musk fears that he can no longer finance the Starlink internet network in Ukraine. According to the American entrepreneur at the helm of SpaceX, the company no longer has the funds to continue funding the Starlink internet network in the country at war, he assured Friday, October 14. The space company “cannot continue to fund the existing system indefinitely and send thousands of additional terminals (…). This is unacceptable,” he tweeted.
Since the Russian offensive began in late February, SpaceX has shipped some 25,000 terminals to Ukraine, providing internet connectivity through a constellation of satellites that make up the Starlink network. According to the entrepreneur, the operation has already cost $80 million, and the bill is expected to reach $100 million by the end of the year.
According to CNN, this statement is an appeal to the American Department of Defense, which is asking the company to assume the financing of the use of Starlink by the Ukrainian government and its army, which has been estimated to cost $400 million over the next 12 months. SpaceX sent a letter to the Pentagon last month to say it could no longer afford the cost of the service in Ukraine, the channel continues.
The Starlink network has helped maintain internet coverage in areas of Ukraine hit by the Russian military. About 15% of Ukraine’s existing Internet infrastructure had been destroyed or damaged by June, according to authorities. Ukrainian telecommunications operators have also been the target of numerous cyber attacks: “Starlink is the only communication system that continues to work at the front, all others are dead,” tweeted Elon Musk. “Russia is actively trying to kill Starlink,” he added. The billionaire warned that despite committing resources to defending Starlink, the system “very well could go away.”
According to the British daily Financial Times, Ukrainian forces may have suffered cuts in Starlink service at the front lines, which would have slowed their counter-offensive before the situation improved.
“To our knowledge, SpaceX has not suspended its service to Ukrainian civil authorities and critical infrastructure operators,” a spokesman for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) said on Friday evening. He said the agency bought more than 1,500 terminals from SpaceX for delivery to Ukraine in April, then 86 new terminals in July for authorities in the Lviv region.