The day before, the US billionaire had questioned the funding. SpaceX “can’t finance the system forever,” the entrepreneur said. News channel CNN previously reported that Musk had asked the US Department of Defense to pay the costs.
The head of the electric car manufacturer Tesla and the richest person in the world had already declared last week that SpaceX had already spent 80 million dollars (82 million euros) on the Internet offer for Ukraine. By the end of the year, spending is expected to exceed $ 100 million.
Relevant starlink for Ukraine
According to Musk, the package also includes satellites and ground stations in addition to the end devices. These must be “developed, initiated, maintained and adapted”. Musk also referred to additional costs, for example for telecommunications companies. In addition, there is the increasingly difficult protection against cyber attacks and jammers: this translates into a total cost of $ 20 million per month, as Musk calculated on Twitter.
Starlink provides Internet access through a system of over 3,000 small satellites. This offer is extremely important for Ukraine in the war against Russia: the armed forces rely, among other things, on Internet connections established via Starlink in their counter-offensive.
US official according to CNN: “Insolence”
Apparently, the US Department of Defense felt alienated. SpaceX “has the guts to look like a hero” while others are presented with another bill of tens of millions a month in addition to the amounts already paid, according to CNN.
In addition to the initial support of approximately $ 3 million for hardware and services from the US Agency for International Development, the largest single donor to date is Poland with nearly 9,000 terminals, according to CNN. Of the 20,000 terminals, 85% were paid for in full or in part by various countries and institutions. There are various information on the costs of the service. According to SpaceX, these are the much more expensive part and so far 70 percent of this has been paid for in Ukraine.
“SpaceX faces very difficult decisions”
According to CNN, SpaceX has estimated the cost of the Ukrainian commitment with Starlink at $ 120 million for this year and nearly $ 400 million for another twelve months. With reference to the documents available from the US broadcaster, Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Valery Saluschnyj only requested nearly 8,000 more Starlink terminals in July.
“SpaceX faces very difficult choices here. I don’t think they have the financial capacity to provide additional terminals or services as requested by General Zalushny, ”CNN said in a letter to the Pentagon written by an outside consultant working for SpaceX.
Widespread outage reports
CNN also referred to reports of recent, possibly far-reaching Starlink failures in Ukrainian war theaters. The failures have affected the entire front, the US broadcaster reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
According to a report by the Financial Times (“FT”), Ukrainian troops recently reported faults in Starlink devices on the front line. As the system now plays a central role for the Ukrainian armed forces, the consequences for the ongoing counter-offensive are unpredictable. According to “FT”, the Starlink problem already illustrates “the dangers of digital addiction”.
Starlink was activated in Ukraine at the end of February, a few days after the start of the Russian war of aggression, and the necessary reception systems were subsequently delivered. The system establishes fast Internet connections via its satellites. In areas where there is no longer any access to mobile communications and the internet due to destroyed infrastructure, it serves both civilians and the Ukrainian military as the central means of communication.
Refusal to Musk’s peace plan
“Kyjv Post” correspondent Jason Smart described Starlink as a “turning point” in the war in Ukraine, but on Twitter Smart also recalled the recent disagreements between Musk and the Ukrainian government.
The trigger was Musk’s Twitter call to vote on a plan he proposed to end the Russian war in Ukraine. In particular, Musk has proposed elections under the supervision of the United Nations for the four Ukrainian regions now annexed to Russia. If there were a majority against Russian annexation, Russia would withdraw, according to Musk, who also argued that Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, remains with Russia.
“Which moss do you like best?”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy immediately responded with his poll on the platform. “Which Elon Musk do you like best?” he tweeted, offering two responses: “One supporting Ukraine” or “One supporting Russia”. Even clearer words then came from the outgoing Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, who sent Musk the “diplomatic response” on Twitter to go to hell.
