As Russian tanks and troops descended upon Ukraine, I reported that Elon Musk was now providing free satellite-based internet service in Ukraine through his company Starlink.
The importance of that service cannot be overstated. The system helped Ukraine recover quickly from the hail of missiles Russia sent over in response to the Crimean bridge attack.
SpaceX’s Starlink services helped restore energy and communications infrastructure in Ukraine’s critical areas, the country’s Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said on Wednesday.”Over 100 cruise missiles attacked (Ukraine’s) energy and communications infrastructure. But with Starlink we quickly restored the connection in critical areas,” Fedorov tweeted.Some of the Starlink internet devices that had suffered outages have come back online in the past few days, restoring crucial lines of communications in territory recently liberated from Russian occupation, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing Ukrainian soldiers and officials.
However, Starlink is not a charity. Now that the success of their system has been proven in the battlefield, it would like to be compensated. So now SpaceX is in talks with the Pentagon to find funding for continued service.
The Pentagon on Friday confirmed that the Biden administration was in talks with SpaceX over who will foot the bill for the critical internet service in Ukraine provided by the company’s Starlink.The director of government sales for SpaceX, owned by CEO Elon Musk, reportedly sent a letter to the Pentagon last month stating it could no longer fund Starlink in Ukraine as it is expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars to keep it running for the next year, according to documents CNN said it obtained.“I can confirm that the [Defense Department] has been in communication with SpaceX regarding Starlink,” Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters Friday. “I’m not going to get into further details of this discussion just now. … But we’re working with our partners and allies in trying to figure out what’s best.”
The move comes after Musk publicized the scale of the expense associated with maintaining the Ukrainian system.
…[T]he programme costs $20m (£18m) per month to maintain, according to Mr Musk. He recently said SpaceX has spent $80m so far to keep Ukraine online.”In addition to terminals, we have to create, launch, maintain & replenish satellites & ground stations,” he wrote on Twitter.”We’ve also had to defend against cyberattacks & jamming, which are getting harder.”
Of course, it is worthwhile noting that Musk’s request comes after profanity-laced tweets directed at the Starlink CEO from Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany and supposed “diplomat” Andrij Melnyk.
After investing time and treasure to help Ukraine, Musk dared to propose a peace plan (probably hoping, like most normal people, to avoid nuclear Armageddon).
“Diplomat” Melnyk had this response.
Ukrainian diplomat Andrij Melnyk hit back at the proposal, on Twitter. “F**k you is my very diplomatic response to you @elonmusk”he tweeted.He then replied to another tweet from Elon Musk: “The only result is that from now on, no Ukrainian will buy your damn Tesla. So good luck to you @elonmusk”.
Musk decided that perhaps he would take the ambassador’s advice.
Many on social media are trying to shame Musk over the decision.
But many others could see Musk’s point.
Personally, my favorite take on the exchange:
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