The Pentagon is considering funding Starlink to provide Internet services to Ukraine

The Pentagon is considering paying for the Starlink satellite network from a fund that has long been used to supply weapons and equipment to Ukraine, according to two American officials involved in the deliberations. The Starlink Internet terminal, manufactured by SpaceX, has been an important communication tool for the Ukrainian army, which can guarantee its operational and communication capabilities under special circumstances.

In a September letter to the Pentagon, CNN reported that SpaceX’s head of government sales said the company could no longer donate the terminals to Ukraine or keep funding them. The letter also asks the Pentagon to pay the Ukrainian government and military for services used by Starlink. The Pentagon responded on Friday by saying it was continuing to discuss the way forward with SpaceX. But the Defense Department also said it was considering other alternatives for commercial satellite communications.

Report mentioned, due to the musk is Ukraine war recently shown unpredictability, said a U.S. official involved in the discussions, people lack of confidence in the credibility of the musk, forcing the pentagon is looking for a way, in the foreseeable future maintain star Internet service or seek a suitable alternative in Ukraine.

The most likely source of funding is the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which has been used to obtain a range of weapons and services for Ukraine’s war effort, according to multiple U.S. government officials and industry sources. The Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, led by the U.S. Department of Defense, aims to provide long-term support to the Ukrainian military by financing contracts with U.S. companies for weapons and equipment that will be delivered over months or even years.

The European Union is also exploring whether it should pay Musk’s company to continue providing Internet services to Ukraine, according to the Financial Times. According to Josep Borrell, the European Union’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, Musk has tasked officials with drawing up plans to strengthen Ukraine’s Internet coverage after he threatened to stop paying for the operation of a Starlink Internet terminal he donated to Ukraine. Musk has previously said it costs SpaceX up to $20 million a month to operate the devices.

Ukraine is known to have more than 20,000 Starlink Internet terminals, many of which are used by the Ukrainian military. While some of these were donated by SpaceX, many were paid for by the U.S. government, Western Allies or through crowdfunding. Musk himself tweeted on Monday that “25,300 terminals were sent to Ukraine to be precise, but only 10,630 terminals have paid for the service so far.”

While Mr. Musk said on Saturday that he had changed his mind and would pay to run Starlink’s Internet terminals “indefinitely,” European Union officials said they had concerns about Mr. Musk’s reliability. Some member states used a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Monday to discuss the issue and pledge cash to fund the service.

The EU discussions came as Kyiv reported widespread outages of Starlink Internet service on the front-line in recent weeks and as the Pentagon disclosed talks with Musk over terminal operating expenses in the country. Musk insisted Monday that SpaceX “has since withdrawn its funding request.”

But the European Union is evaluating whether to negotiate a formal contract with SpaceX and set up a joint fund to support the operation of Starlink terminals donated by the company. Eu officials are also said to be exploring other satellite options.

In a recent interview with Politico, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis confirmed the discussions within EU member states. Mr Landsbergis said Ukraine’s Internet access should not be in the hands of a “super-strong man” who could “wake up one day and say: ‘This is no longer what I want to do, that’s it’. And the next day, Ukrainians may find themselves without Internet.”