Elon Musk said his space technology company SpaceX will continue to fund Starlink internet service in Ukraine, a day following declaring it might no longer do so.
“Even though Starlink is still losing money and other companies are getting billions of dollars from taxpayers, we will continue to fund the Ukrainian government for free,” he wrote on Twitter.
The Starlink network has been a vital factor for the military and people of Ukraine by keeping them online.
Ukraine says Starlink helped restart key infrastructure following Russian attacks. Energy facilities were among the facilities targeted by more than 100 Russian missiles last week.
The Starlink network consists of thousands of satellites, in low Earth orbit, and ground stations.
Last month, Musk, the head of Tesla and the world’s richest man, asked the Pentagon to fund Starlink in his stead, according to US media.
“SpaceX is not asking for a refund of past expenses, but it also cannot fund the current system indefinitely,” he said via Twitter on Friday. This move was met with severe criticism.
Musk earlier angered Kyiv by suggesting that Ukraine cede its territory to Russia.
Starlink costs $20 million a month, according to Musk. He recently said that SpaceX has spent $80 million so far to keep Ukraine online.
“We have to build, launch, maintain and refurbish satellites and ground stations,” he wrote on Twitter.
“We also had to deal with cyber attacks and jamming, which is getting more and more difficult.”
Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, played down tensions with Musk, writing on Twitter that the billionaire was “among the world’s largest private donors supporting Ukraine”.
“Starlink is an essential component of our critical infrastructure,” Fedorov added.
One of the devices used to operate Starlink in Kharkiv
Earlier this month, Musk posted on Twitter a proposal that Ukraine accept Russia’s annexation of Crimea and allow referendums to be held in the Ukrainian regions invaded by Moscow.
The Kremlin responded positively to the offer.
But the outgoing Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andrei Melnik, posted a tweet asking Musk to stay away, using a profanity.
Responding Friday to a post referring to the ambassador’s statement, Musk said, “We are only following his recommendation.”
Moscow recently announced that four more Ukrainian regions would be part of Russia, following referendums that Kyiv and its Western allies denounced as sham. Russia does not fully control any of these areas.
Musk also suggested to the world that it “formally” recognize Crimea – illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014 – as part of Russia.
Last week, Musk denied that he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin before publishing his proposal.
“I spoke to Putin only once, and that was 18 months ago. The topic was space,” he wrote on Twitter.
That statement came following a think-tank researcher claimed that Musk personally told him regarding the alleged conversation.
