This is an excerpt from The Daily Wire.
SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk reversed course Saturday on continuing to provide Ukraine with free Starlink satellite services in their war against invading Russian forces.
Musk said Friday that he had decided to follow the “recommendation” of a Ukrainian diplomat who told him to “f*** off,” which came in response to Musk proposing a peace deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, by saying that SpaceX would no longer fund its Starlink satellite internet terminals in Ukraine for free.
Musk’s statement Friday triggered enormous backlash among pro-Ukraine activists, who called for taking action against the billionaire entrepreneur. Musk has previously stated that SpaceX’s deployment of the satellites to Ukraine has cost the company “$80 million and will exceed $100 million by the end of the year.”
“The hell with it,” Musk said, “even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free.”
Musk provided Ukraine with the Starlink terminals shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, and they made an immediate difference on the battlefield, allowing Ukraine’s military to communicate and stay connected despite Russia destroying a lot of its communications infrastructure.
CNN reported Thursday that the charitable contributions are likely coming to end as the company warned the Department of Defense that it needs to start paying tens of millions of dollars per month to keep the terminals up and running.
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