Musk says SpaceX will continue to fund Starlink internet service in Ukraine amid backlash

Multibillionaire Elon Musk said on Saturday that his company SpaceX would continue funding the Starlink internet service being used on the ground in Ukraine, despite previous warnings that the company would withdraw its services due to a lack of government funding.

“The hell with it,” Musk wrote on Twitter. “Even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free.”

When former PayPal founding chief operating officer and co-founder of angel investment firm Craft Ventures David Sacks replied with the comment, “No good deed goes unpunished,” Musk responded: “Even so, we should still do good deeds.”

SpaceX’s director of government sales told the Pentagon last month that the company was unable to continue its funding of Starlink, sharing that the endeavor would cost $120 million over the next few months and nearly $400 million next year.

“We are not in a position to further donate terminals to Ukraine, or fund the existing terminals for an indefinite period of time,” read the letter, shared by CNN on Friday.

The Ukrainian military has used Starlink technology, which it describes as reliable and mobile, to maintain communication both between troops and among civilians.

Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh confirmed on Friday that the Department of Defense was in talks with SpaceX about the amount of government funding that would be given to support Starlink.

She added that officials are “assessing our options and trying to do what we can to help keep these … capabilities to ensure that these communications remain for the Ukrainian forces.”

Musk said on Friday that Starlink’s operation in Ukraine was costing SpaceX about $20 million per month.

“In addition to terminals, we have to create, launch, maintain & replenish satellites & ground stations & pay telcos for access to Internet via gateways,” he wrote on Twitter.

“We’ve also had to defend against cyberattacks & jamming, which are getting harder.”

Musk rolled out Starlink service in Ukraine during the start of the Russian invasion in late February after vice prime minister of Ukraine, Mykhailo Fedorov, asked the billionaire to provide the technology via Twitter.