SpaceX CEO Elon Musk reversed his determination to cease funding the Starlink terminals despatched to Ukraine, saying on Twitter that the corporate will proceed to offer “free” satellite tv for pc web service to the federal government even when it means the corporate loses cash.
“The hell with it,” Musk writes on Twitter. “Despite the fact that Starlink continues to be shedding cash & different corporations are getting billions of taxpayer $, we’ll simply maintain funding Ukraine govt without spending a dime.”
On Friday, a report from CNN revealed that SpaceX requested the federal government if it could pay for any further terminals despatched to Ukraine, in addition to for current web providers. These bills may reportedly quantity to about $124 million by the tip of 2022 and practically $380 million over the subsequent 12 months. Musk later added on Twitter that Starlink can’t fund providers in Ukraine “indefinitely,” noting in another tweet that Starlink’s shedding about $20 million a month to take care of its providers.
Musk confronted criticism after polling Twitter users whether or not Ukraine ought to obtain “peace” with Russia by surrendering Crimea and different annexed areas. This prompted a reply from Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, Andrij Melnyk, who said “fuck off is my very diplomatic reply.” Ukrainian vice prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov later tweeted that Musk “is among the many world’s prime non-public donors supporting Ukraine,” and that “Starlink is an important aspect of our important infrastructure.”
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