Ukraine’s fears that its troops could lose access to Elon Musk’s vital Starlink Internet service intensified last week after 1,300 military satellite units were disabled, according to two sources familiar with the outage, cited by CNN.

Small, easy-to-use satellite dishes made by SpaceX, Musk’s private rocket company, have been hailed as a revolutionary source of communications for Ukraine’s military, allowing them to fight and stay online even when cell phone and internet networks are down. in the war with Russia.

But concerns about SpaceX’s reliability have grown recently after funding negotiations and reports of failures near the front lines were revealed.

The recent outage began on October 24 and was described by a person briefed on the situation as a “big problem” for the Ukrainian military. The terminals were turned off, he said, due to lack of funding.

The outage affected a block of 1,300 terminals that Ukraine bought from a British company in March and used for hostilities.

According to the interlocutor, SpaceX charged the Ukrainian military $2,500 per month to connect each of the 1,300 units, bringing the total cost to nearly $20 million by September. Eventually, they could no longer afford to pay.

Musk’s double talk

CNN reported that SpaceX sent a letter to the Pentagon in September saying it had spent nearly $100 million to fund Starlink in Ukraine and could no longer do so.

The letter called on the Ministry of Defense to take on more funding for the Ukrainian military, which it estimated would cost tens of millions of dollars a month.

A few days after CNN’s report, Musk changed his tune, saying SpaceX had withdrawn the request.

“With him,” Musk wrote on Twitter, “we will continue to finance the government of Ukraine for free.”

According to a senior defense official, talks between SpaceX and the Department of Defense are continuing, despite Musk’s statement that SpaceX has withdrawn its request.

“Negotiations are ongoing. Everyone in our building knows we’re going to pay them,” a senior Pentagon official told CNN, adding that the department is seeking a written commitment “because we’re concerned he’s going to change his mind.” .

On Wednesday, Musk attended a US Space Force awards ceremony that was also attended by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.