Musk to keep funding key sat links: Ukrainian official
Elon Musk has given assurances to Ukraine that he will keep funding its access to a crucial satellite network providing Kyiv with battlefield and humanitarian communications in its war with Russia, a senior Ukrainian official said Wednesday.
Elon Musk “told me personally that he will continue to support Ukraine and continue to provide Starlink to Ukraine,” Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation, told The Associated Press.
“There are no problems for now with
Starlink,” Fedorov said through an interpreter. Doubts arose last month about whether Musk would continue to offer the SpaceX Starlink system to Ukraine. Its more than 2,200 low-orbiting satellites provide a broadband internet service to more than 150,000 Ukrainian ground stations.
But Musk tweeted in mid-October that it was costing SpaceX $20 million a month to support Ukraine’s communications needs. He also noted his company has to create, launch, maintain and replenish satellites and ground stations. Musk, the world’s richest man, also spent billions to take control of Twitter last week.
U.S. officials confirmed at the time that Musk had asked the Defense Department to take over funding for the service Starlink provides in Ukraine.
The Starlink satellite internet’s role is central to Ukraine’s defense. For example, it helps front-line reconnaissance drone operators target artillery strikes on Russian assets and positions. The fighting in Ukraine is Europe’s first major war of the internet age. (AP)