Oct. 15 (BP) — Elon Musk on Saturday appeared to backtrack on comments he made Friday stating that SpaceX would discontinue its Starlink internet service to Ukraine amid the Russian invasion, alleging that the company was losing money.
“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 said on Twitter.
The world’s richest man on Friday said that Starlink is “still losing money” a day after CNN revealed that SpaceX told the Pentagon in a September letter that it could no longer fund the service for Ukraine and asking the Defense Department to take over funding of Starlink for Ukraine.
Shipments of Starlink terminals were sent to Ukraine in February, just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his forces to invade the country. The Starlink terminals have since proven a vital part in Ukraine’s defense arsenal against Russia.
However, Musk alleged earlier this month that Starlink terminals for Ukraine use 100 times more data than an average household and have already cost the company around $80 million.
In a response to Musk’s tweet Saturday, investor David Sacks said, “no good deed goes unpunished” to which Musk responded, “Even so, we should still do good deeds.”
Critics of Musk said on Twitter, the social media platform he is currently attempting to buy, that the Tesla boss has received billions of dollars in subsidies from the United States over the years.
Musk also faced recent criticism for proposing a plan for peace in Ukraine that included ceding some of its territory to Russia.