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Last month, Elon Musk asked the Pentagon to pay for the Starlink service he’s providing to Ukraine. The SpaceX CEO took to Twitter to clarify the company cannot fund the war-torn country’s satellite internet system “indefinitely.” 

In February, Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation, pleaded with Tesla and SpaceX CEO Musk for help.

Hours later, Elon Musk posted that the Starlink satellite internet system was turned on. And that truckloads of the cutting-edge terminals were “en route. 

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine access to the Starlink system has played an integral part in Ukraine’s battlefield successes.

Starlink service costly

In a tweet on Friday, Musk noted that the space agency isn’t interested in recouping past costs. The service has been operational in Ukraine since the end of February. And additional expensive commercial terminals have been sent to aid in the war effort.

“SpaceX is not asking to recoup past expenses, but also cannot fund the existing system indefinitely *and* send several thousand more terminals that have data usage up to 100X greater than typical households. This is unreasonable,” Musk said. 

Musk explained that Starlink the company is operating in the red. And supporting Ukraine’s satellite internet for free is not possible indefinitely.

He added that the LEO communications constellation needs to avoid bankruptcy. And SpaceX has to focus on the company’s bottom lines. 

Every month, SpaceX is closing in on spending about $20 million. This keeps Ukraine’s Starlink service operational.

 “In addition to terminals, we have to create, launch, maintain & replenish satellites & ground stations & pay telcos for access to the Internet via gateways. We’ve also had to defend against cyberattacks & jamming, which are getting harder. Burn is approaching ~$20M/month,” he added. 

Peace Plan causes Twitter war

Musk's tweets about Ukraine’s free Starlink service comes after he proposed a peace plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war. 

The plan was not a formal proposal. He just talked about it in an interview. 

It involved redoing elections of annexed regions under UN supervision. And proposed Ukraine maintain its neutrality and not join NATO or the EU. 

 Musk added that many more people would die. And his suggestion was more than likely to be the result of a brokered peace between Ukraine and Russia.

 Musk’s suggestions did not go over well with anyone. And some Ukrainian authorities were outraged. 

Andriji Melnyk, Ukraine’s outgoing ambassador to Germany tweeted out that the only outcome is that now no Ukrainian will EVER buy your f***ing Tesla crap. So good luck to you, Elon Musk.”

 In a later comment, the ambassador added that “F*ck off is my very diplomatic reply to you, Elon Musk.”

When Melnyk’s comments were alluded to on Twitter, Musk said simply, “We’re just following his recommendation.”