Photo credit: flickr.com
By As Elon Musk's SpaceX-built Starlink satellite internet terminals first began arriving in Ukraine last spring and have become a vital source of communications for the Ukrainian military, allowing them to fight and stay connected even when mobile and internet networks have been attacked. About 20,000 Starlink satellites have been delivered to Ukraine to date, and Musk tweeted on Friday that “the operation cost SpaceX $80 million and will exceed $100 million by the end of the year.”
However, these charitable donations may be is coming to an end because SpaceX has warned the Pentagon that it may stop funding the service in Ukraine if the US military does not release tens of millions of dollars a month.
Documents obtained by CNN show what happened in the past In the month of SpaceX, Musk sent a letter to the Pentagon , in which it stated that it could no longer fund the Starlink service as before. The letter also asks the Pentagon to take over funding for the Ukrainian government and military use of Starlink, which SpaceX says will cost more than $120 million by the end of the year and could cost around $400 million over the next 12 months.
“We are unable to further donate terminals to Ukraine or finance existing terminals indefinitely”, — wrote SpaceX's director of government sales to the Pentagon in a September letter.
Among the SpaceX documents sent to the Pentagon and seen by CNN is a previously unreported direct request made to Musk in July by Ukrainian military commander Gen. Valeriy Zaluzhny, almost 8000 more Starlink terminals.