Multibillionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, has asked the US Department of Defense to pay for the use of his Starlink satellites that facilitate communications in Ukraine, which he has provided for free until now, CNN reports, EFE and Agerpres reports.

SpaceX has told the Pentagon it may end the service if it doesn’t pay tens of millions of dollars each month, CNN reported Thursday.

After the start of the war in Ukraine, Musk donated terminals for his Starlink satellite communications service to Ukraine, as Internet communications in that country were disrupted by bombing.

The entrepreneur warned that the operation has cost SpaceX $80 million so far, a sum that will reach more than $120 million by the end of this year and $400 million in the next 12 months.

“We are no longer in a position to continue donating terminals to Ukraine or funding existing terminals indefinitely,” SpaceX’s government sales director wrote in a letter to the Pentagon in September.

Starlink terminals are necessary for the Ukrainian military

Among the documents sent by SpaceX to the Pentagon and seen by CNN is a previously undisclosed direct request from Ukrainian military commander Valery Zaluzhny to Elon Musk for 8,000 more Starlink terminals.

“The Starlink terminals were absolutely critical as the Russians attacked Ukraine’s communications infrastructure,” said Dimitri Alperovych, co-founder of the Silverado Policy Accelerator think tank.

“Without them, in many cases, they would really be working blind.”

Crashes are reported

Elon Musk’s request comes amid recent reports of massive disruptions to Starlink as Ukrainian forces attempt to retake Russian-controlled territory in the country’s east and south.

CNN’s sources said the disruptions suddenly affected the entire front line, as it did on September 30.

“Starlink is the primary way troops communicate on the battlefield,” a source told CNN on condition of anonymity.

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