After sparking some public backlash, SpaceX is no longer requesting that the US government pay upwards of $100 million to keep Starlink operating in Ukraine, according to CEO Elon Musk.
“SpaceX has already withdrawn its request for funding,” Musk said in a tweet on Monday.
Musk sent out the tweet in response to Politico reporting that the Pentagon is considering paying for the Starlink access in Ukraine by tapping an existing fund the US has set up to supply weapons and equipment to the country.
However, Musk is now indicating SpaceX will foot the bill as a charitable donation. He went on to say his company is currently paying for about 58% of the costs to beam the internet data to over 25,000 Starlink dishes in Ukraine.
“To be precise, 25,300 terminals were sent to Ukraine, but, at present, only 10,630 are paying for service,” Musk wrote in a follow-up tweet.
During a press briefing on the same day, the Defense Department refrained from elaborating on the full status of funding talks. "We're continuing to work through details. I don't have any announcements to make today," a senior official merely said.
However, on Saturday, Musk also 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.”
According to CNN, SpaceX originally sent a letter to the Pentagon last month warning that it could no longer afford to pay for the Starlink access in Ukraine indefinitely. Instead, the company requested the Pentagon take over the funding, and fork over $120 million to maintain the Starlink access for the rest of the year. To keep Starlink running in Ukraine for 12 months, the company reportedly asked for close to $400 million.
The same CNN report also says that the US, foreign governments, and several NGO groups and charities have already funded or partially funded about 85% of the Starlink dishes in Ukraine. In addition, a few humanitarian workers have noted that many Ukrainian residents and soldiers in the country have already been paying for the Starlink access out of their own pockets, as if they were normal customers.
The funding request to the Pentagon has sparked questions about how much money SpaceX truly needs to operate Starlink in Ukraine when the satellite internet service has become critical to the country's war effort against Russia. According to Musk, Starlink continues to represent a financial loss for SpaceX.
He also claims SpaceX has already spent $80 million of its own money maintaining the Starlink access. “We’ve also had to defend against cyberattacks and jamming, which are getting harder,” he wrote in a tweet last week. “Burn is approaching ~$20M/month.”
To make up for some of the funding problems, Musk has signaled he’ll add a donation feature to Starlink, paving a way for the public to subsidize the satellite internet access for areas in need.