Elon Musk says SpaceX will continue to fund Starlink in Ukraine despite losing money

(Reuters) – Elon Musk said on Saturday his rocket company SpaceX would continue to fund Starlink internet service in Ukraine, citing the need for “good deeds” a day after declaring it could no longer afford it.

Musk tweeted: “Hell… even though Starlink is still losing money and other companies are getting billions of dollars from taxpayers, we will continue to fund the Ukrainian government for free.”

Musk said on Friday that SpaceX cannot fund Starlink in Ukraine indefinitely. Service helped civilians and military personnel stay online during the war with Russia.

Although it wasn’t immediately clear if Musk’s change of mind was real, it later appeared to indicate that. When a Twitter user told Musk, “No good deed goes unpunished,” he replied, “However, we must still do good deeds.”

The billionaire has engaged in online battles with Ukrainian officials over a peace plan he has put forward that Ukraine says is too generous to Russia.

He made his comments Friday about the funding after a media report that SpaceX had asked the Pentagon to pay Starlink’s donations.

SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment. The Pentagon declined to comment.

Additional reporting by David Leungren, Matt Spitalnick, and Caroline Stover; Editing by Sandra Mahler

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