“The hell with it”—Elon Musk to keep funding Ukrainian Starlink service [Updated]
Update, October 15, 5:57pm EDT: In a tweet early Saturday afternoon, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced that satellite-based ISP Starlink will continue providing Internet service to Ukrainian forces battling the Russian invasion as well as the country's government. "The hell with it ... even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we'll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free," Musk tweeted.
Original story: SpaceX has asked the Pentagon to fund the Ukraine government and military's use of Starlink broadband, saying the Elon Musk-led company can't afford to donate more user terminals or pay for operations indefinitely, CNN reported.
"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 in a September letter, according to CNN. The letter "requested that the Pentagon take over funding for Ukraine's government and military use of Starlink, which SpaceX claims would cost more than $120 million for the rest of the year and could cost close to $400 million for the next 12 months."