SpaceX will continue to fund its Starlink satellite internet service in Ukraine, company founder Elon Musk said on Twitter on October 15, 2022, Ukrinform reported.
“Keep funding”
Musk wrote that although Starlink was still losing money and other companies were receiving billions of dollars from taxpayers, SpaceX would “just keep funding Ukraine govt for free.”
A reversal
Musk had earlier confirmed that SpaceX wanted to stop funding the service provided through Starlink terminals delivered to Ukraine as aid, and media reported that the company had asked the Pentagon to pay. His reversal came after criticism in Ukraine and abroad, including over a peace plan he had proposed on Twitter.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office, said Ukraine would find a way to keep the system running and expected SpaceX to maintain stable connectivity. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis called for a coalition to fund Starlink in Ukraine or find an alternative provider.
Vital link
Thousands of Starlink terminals have been delivered to Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion. They are used by the military for communications and drone operations, and by hospitals, emergency services and civilians in areas where Russian strikes have knocked out power and communications.
Sources
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