Days after questioning his support for a plan to settle the conflict that included the country ceding some territory to Russia, billionaire Elon Musk has claimed his space exploration business SpaceX cannot "indefinitely" subsidize the Starlink internet service in war-torn Ukraine.
"SpaceX is not requesting reimbursement for previous costs, but it is also unable to send thousands of more terminals with data demand that can be up to 100 times higher than that of normal homes while simultaneously funding the current system. This is absurd," Musk wrote on Twitter.
After Russia's invasion of Ukraine crippled internet service, Musk turned on Starlink, a satellite internet service run by SpaceX, in late February. The Ukrainian military's ability to remain online has been made possible by its internet terminals.
Musk claimed that Starlink was burning through over $20 million a month to operate satellite services in Ukraine, a cost he referred to as a "burn." He recently claimed that SpaceX has invested roughly $80 million to fund and enable Starlink in Ukraine.
CNN revealed on Thursday that last month, SpaceX wrote to the Pentagon warning that it could have to stop supporting the service unless the American military provided tens of millions of dollars in monthly assistance.
According to one of Musk's tweets, the action might possibly be a reaction to the harsh criticism he received after his proposed "peace" proposal.Musk proposed that Ukraine permanently cede the Crimea region to Russia, that new referendums be held under United Nations auspices to decide the fate of Russian-controlled territory, and that Ukraine agree to neutrality. Musk is aware that Ukraine has long maintained that it will never agree to cede land taken by force.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, was one of several who criticized Musk's idea.
Andrij Melnyk, the outgoing ambassador of Ukraine to Germany, harshly denounced it as well. He tweeted, "keep
off is my extremely civilized reply to you @elonmusk."
The ambassador's comment and the future of the Starlink service were mentioned in a post, to which Musk replied, "We're just following his advise."
Service interruption might have serious repercussions for Ukraine. After more than 100 Russian cruise missile attacks, according to the vice prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov, Starlink services helped restore the electrical and communications infrastructure in crucial areas.
After the local cell phone network was destroyed after intense bombardment, military communications have been conducted using encrypted satellite transmissions.
The US administration gave Musk the go-ahead to launch the satellite internet service Starlink in order to support Iranians protesting the death of a woman while in police custody.
The decision was made in response to violent demonstrations that erupted across Iran after Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, died after being detained by "morality police" due to the way she was wearing her headscarf.
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