SpaceX will provide Ukraine with Starlink satellite telecommunications services even if the Pentagon declines to fund the network’s operation in the country, US businessman Elon Musk said on Monday.
He said he had given the assurance to Ukrainian Digital Transformation Minister Mikhail Fyodorov.
“Before the Department of Defense even came back with an answer, I told Mikhail Fyodorov that SpaceX would not turn off Starlink even if DoD refused to provide funding,” Musk said on Twitter.
The Ukrainian minister confirmed the statement in a reply to Musk.
In an interview to Politico published on Friday, Ukrainian Defense Minister Alexey Reznikov said Kiev was in direct contact with Musk over Starlink and its funding. Reznikov said sources of funding for Starlink could be the Pentagon, the EU and private donations.
CNN reported on October 13 it had obtained a letter where SpaceX notified the US DoD it would cease to pay for its satellite communications system in Ukraine and wouldn’t provide any new terminals for the country for an indefinite time. The letter asked the Pentagon to bankroll any additional Starlink terminals for Kiev and the system’s operation in the interests of the Ukrainian government and military.
Musk backtracked on October 15, saying he would carry on funding Starlink in Ukraine, despite financial losses. The US State Department has welcomed the decision.
