Elon Musk has informed the US government that SpaceX can no longer continue to fund satellite services in Ukraine.
Since the war broke out, SpaceX has provided the Ukrainian military with vital internet services with approximately 20,000 Starlink units.
A previous report claimed SpaceX informed the Pentagon that it cannot continue to fund services in Ukraine unless the US military steps in with additional financial support.
Following the report, Mr Musk clarified the statement on social media, saying: “SpaceX is not asking to recoup past expenses, but also cannot fund the existing system indefinitely and send several thousand more terminals that have data usage up to 100X greater than typical households. This is unreasonable.”
According to CNN, a letter from SpaceX to the Pentagon in Septembersaid continuing its services would cost £106million ($120million) for the rest of the year, and £356million ($400million) for the next 12 months.
SpaceX’s director of government sales wrote to the Pentagon in the September letter: “We are not in a position to further donate terminals to Ukraine or fund the existing terminals for an indefinite period of time.”
In a separate letter, an outside consultant claimed the company does not have the financial ability to provide additional terminals.
Although SpaceX did not comment on the breakdown of the request to the Pentagon, the report from the US publication stated the figures showed 85 per cent of the cost of the terminals, was covered by the Pentagon and other entities such as the UK and Poland.
