That didn’t last long: hours after word got out that Starlink was trying to get the Pentagon to pay for its satellite service in war-torn Ukraine, Elon Musk has had a change of heart. Everything stays as it was, even if that means bleeding cash.
Late this week, word got out that SpaceX sent a letter to the Pentagon in September, saying it could no longer offer Starlink satellite service in Ukraine, and that the Pentagon should pick up the bill. Musk himself announced on Twitter that he was sending terminals and offering services for civilian and military use in the country in February this year.
Keeping that promise was not cost-effective, the letter said, estimating $120 million in assorted costs by the end of the year, and some $400 million for the next 12 months. While 85% of the terminals sent to Ukraine were paid for by the U.S., Poland, UK, NGOs and other organizations, SpaceX says it footed 70% of the bill for services.
On October 15, Musk was back to tweeting, announcing once more that he would continue to provide the essential service to Ukraine, even if that means his company is bleeding cash. “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,” he writes.
This sounds like he’s being sarcastic, but another one of his tweets shows that he’s being serious. “No good deed goes unpunished,” one of his followers wrote, to which Musk replied, “Even so, we should still do good deeds.” It looks like he’s biting the bullet on the financial loss, but at the very least he will air his grievances about it.
Musk has had a rougher period as of late on Twitter, particularly after he offered a “solution” to the Russian-Ukrainian war in the form of UN-supervised elections. His take did not go well with Ukrainian supporters, including President Zelensky, who openly called him a Russian sympathizer who spewed Russian propaganda, though in fewer and more diplomatic words.
Keeping that promise was not cost-effective, the letter said, estimating $120 million in assorted costs by the end of the year, and some $400 million for the next 12 months. While 85% of the terminals sent to Ukraine were paid for by the U.S., Poland, UK, NGOs and other organizations, SpaceX says it footed 70% of the bill for services.
On October 15, Musk was back to tweeting, announcing once more that he would continue to provide the essential service to Ukraine, even if that means his company is bleeding cash. “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,” he writes.
This sounds like he’s being sarcastic, but another one of his tweets shows that he’s being serious. “No good deed goes unpunished,” one of his followers wrote, to which Musk replied, “Even so, we should still do good deeds.” It looks like he’s biting the bullet on the financial loss, but at the very least he will air his grievances about it.
Musk has had a rougher period as of late on Twitter, particularly after he offered a “solution” to the Russian-Ukrainian war in the form of UN-supervised elections. His take did not go well with Ukrainian supporters, including President Zelensky, who openly called him a Russian sympathizer who spewed Russian propaganda, though in fewer and more diplomatic words.
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