Elon Musk reveals bizarre reason for not supplying Ukraine with free Starlink anymore

Elon Musk has reasoned why he said he could no longer afford to supply Ukraine with free satellite internet services through his company Starlink. This comes just a few days after he received heavy backlash for his Russia-Ukraine peace plan.

Replying to a tweet that recalled Ukrainian diplomat Andrej Melnyk advising the billionaire to "**** off" for his peace plan, Musk said, "We’re just following his recommendation".

Musk recently approached the US Department of Defence saying he can no longer afford to offer Starlink services due to the loss being incurred by his company. Earlier, he had claimed that SpaceX, which manages Starlink, has given away roughly $80 million in internet services to Ukraine and the amount spent is reaching $20 million per month. SpaceX estimates that donating further to Ukraine would cost $120 million for the remaining year of 2022, and then $400 million for the upcoming 12 months.

"In addition to terminals, we have to create, launch, maintain & replenish satellites & ground stations & pay telcos for access to Internet via gateways. We’ve also had to defend against cyberattacks & jamming, which are getting harder", Musk tweeted.

As per the latest data, Musk has donated nearly 20,000 Starlink satellite units to the already war-ravaged nation of which Russian forces have been destroying nearly 500 units every month. However, it was recently revealed that about 85% of the terminals in Ukraine were paid – or partially paid – for by governments of the US, the UK and Poland or other entities.

US says it is 'exploring solutions' for Ukraine now

“The Department continues to work with industry to explore solutions for Ukraine’s armed forces as they repel Russia’s brutal and unprovoked aggression. We do not have anything else to add at this time," Ditchey informed the American broadcaster CNN. In the weeks that Starlink was being used by the Ukrainian military, it used internet services to operate drones, receive intelligence and communicate mainly in regions where Russia had crippled the communication services.