Elon Musk’s company SpaceX warned the Pentagon that it may have to discontinue supporting Starlink internet services in Ukraine unless that US military helps the company, CNN reported.
SpaceX wrote to the Pentagon last month to inform it that the company could no longer afford to provide the Starlink service in Ukraine which has been a crucial means for communication for the country amid Russia’s invasion, documents showed.
“We are not in a position to further donate terminals to Ukraine, or fund the existing terminals for an indefinite period of time,” SpaceX’s director of government sales wrote to the Pentagon.
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SpaceX also asked the Pentagon to take the responsibility of supporting the Starlink services which are estimated to cost as much as $400 million over the course of the next year and will cost more than $120 million this year, CNN quoted the company as saying.
“SpaceX faces terribly difficult decisions here. I do not think they have the financial ability to provide any additional terminals or service,” a consultant working for SpaceX wrote to the Pentagon in September.
{{/usCountry}}“SpaceX faces terribly difficult decisions here. I do not think they have the financial ability to provide any additional terminals or service,” a consultant working for SpaceX wrote to the Pentagon in September.
{{/usCountry}}The announcement by SpaceX follows Elon Musk’s contentious peace proposal that called on Ukraine to cede control of Russian-annexed territories as well as Crimea. The SpaceX chief came under fire on Twitter following the peace plan including from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.