UNITED STATES: Elon Musk said on Saturday that his multi-billion-dollar rocket company SpaceX would continue to fund its Starlink internet service in Ukraine, providing internet access to civilians and military, citing the need for “good deeds,” just a day after he admitted he ran out of funding to do so.
Musk, an avid Twitter user, posted on his social media saying, “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”.
Musk said on Friday that SpaceX could not indefinitely fund Starlink in Ukraine. The internet service provided by the company has enabled civilians and the military to stay online amid the war with Russia.
Although it was unclear whether Musk’s change of heart was genuine, he later appeared to indicate that it was. When a Twitter user told Musk, “No good deed goes unpunished,” he replied, “Even so, we should still do good deeds.”
The billionaire has engaged himself in the political arena and repeatedly involved himself in online Twitter fights with Ukrainian officials over a peace plan he put forward, which Ukraine says is too generous to Russia.
He had made his Friday remarks about funding after a media report that SpaceX had asked the Pentagon to pay for the donations of Starlink.
The latest developments in the Russian-Ukraine crisis have resulted in severe shelling on both sides after Ukrainian offensives in the east and south prompted further Russian shelling in key cities like Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, and others. Consequently, power lines have been cut, leading to lags in internet services, fortunately, provided by Musk’s Starlink services.
Meanwhile, the business mogul is under a serious federal investigation related to his $44 billion takeover deal for Twitter.
The news was made public after a Thursday public filing revealed the details of the ongoing legal dispute between the billionaire and the social networking site.
While the filing said he was under investigation, it did not say what the focus was.
“This game of ‘hide the ball’ must end,” the company said in the court filing.
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