Elon Musk says SpaceX will continue to provide Ukraine with internet access.
The 50-year-old billionaire has retracted his earlier decision to remove the important lifeline for the country that is currently enduring a military invasion from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Elon tweeted on Sunday (16.10.2022): "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.”
The network of satellites - which supplies users with WiFi - has proved to be a useful resource for people in Ukraine after Russian forces targeted on-the-ground infrastructure like energy installations, prompting outrage when the Tesla founder’s outlined his intention to remove their access to it.
He tweeted: "SpaceX is not asking to recoup past expenses, but also cannot fund the existing system indefinitely".
Elon said the programme - which costs $20 million a month in upkeep - was getting “harder” to run.
He continued: "In addition to terminals, we have to create, launch, maintain replenish satellites ground stations.”
"We've also had to defend against cyberattacks jamming, which are getting harder."
Recently, Elon came under fire for his comments suggesting Ukraine should concede ground to Russia however Mykhailo Fedorov, the vice-Prime Minister of Ukraine came out in support of him.
He detailed how Elon "is among the world's top private donors supporting Ukraine".
"Starlink is an essential element of our critical infrastructure,”
Elon - who also recommended the international community “formally” recognise Crimea as a part of Russia - denied being in cahoots with Putin.
He said: "I have spoken to Putin only once and that was about 18 months ago. The subject matter was space.”
