In a U-turn, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has said that his company would continue funding Starlink network in Ukraine. Starlink is SpaceX’s ambitious project that seeks to establish a constellation of thousands of satellites in order to provide internet access across the world. Musk has indicated just a few days ago that he would not continue to fund Starlink network in Ukraine, a country currently battling invading Russian forces.
“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.
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
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 15, 2022
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. After sustained gains in initial months of the conflict, the Russian military has had to retreat from many regions in the east due to counteroffensive by Ukraine’s forces. Ukrainian forces have made use of Starlink network to carry out their military movements.
Musk’s declaration of stopping funding was therefore a major development that had the potential of changing geopolitical equations.
Just a few days ago, Musk had proposed a ‘solution’ to Ukraine-Russia conflict. The suggestions he made were widely panned from the Ukrainian camp. Ukraine’s Ambassador to Germany Andrij Melnyk even told Elon Musk to ‘F*** off’ in his tweet.
Musk had then made a tweet saying that unavailability of free Starlink network in Ukraine would amount to him following the ambassador’s ‘recommendation’, although it was not entirely clear whether Musk’s actions of pulling the plug were out of anger.
It is not yet fully clear whether Musk’s tweet declaring continued funding for Starlink in Ukraine is a sarcastic one.
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