Elon Musk Foments More Geopolitical Controversy With Ukraine Internet Dispute

Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, Elon Musk gave the Ukrainians a digital lifeline by providing them with the Starlink internet service operated by his rocket company, SpaceX.

But those actions landed the world’s richest man in an international controversy on Friday when Mr. Musk said his company could not “indefinitely” fund Ukraine’s use of Starlink, which has become crucial for the Ukrainian Army’s communication as it advances into territory occupied by Russia and defends against continued Russian attacks.

Mr. Musk made his comments on Twitter after CNN reported that SpaceX sent a letter to the Pentagon last month asking it to take over the funding of Ukraine’s use of Starlink. About 20,000 Starlink terminals, which were designed to work with satellites orbiting in space to provide online access, have been delivered to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February. Mr. Musk, who did not mention the Pentagon, talked about the difficulties of funding the service.

“SpaceX is not asking to recoup past expenses, but also cannot fund the existing system indefinitely *and* send several thousand more terminals that have data usage up to 100X greater than typical households,” he wrote.

The situation, which spurred an outcry for how it might hobble Ukrainian forces, was yet another controversy fomented by Mr. Musk, 51, who has become an unlikely provocateur in international geopolitics. The billionaire, who oversees the electric carmaker Tesla and other companies, is already embroiled in public brouhahas on many other fronts, including a will-he-won’t-he $44 billion deal to buy the social media service Twitter.

Last week, Mr. Musk drew a fierce rebuke from Ukrainian officials for proposing a peace plan — which included ceding territory to Russia — to end the war. He also suggested in an interview with The Financial Times that tensions between China and Taiwan could be resolved by handing over some control of Taiwan to Beijing.

“Elon Musk is always a risk factor,” said Xiaomeng Lu, a director with Eurasia Group, a political consultancy and research group in Washington. “Ukraine is playing with fire.”

SpaceX and Mr. Musk did not respond to requests for comment.

In a tweet on Friday, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, struck a conciliatory tone with Mr. Musk, saying he helped the country “survive the most critical moments of war.”

Mr. Musk revealed that SpaceX was developing the Starlink service in 2015 to provide internet access to individuals and businesses. The company now offers Starlink services in 40 countries. In the United States, fees for the service are $100 to $500 a month per terminal; the terminals themselves cost an additional $600. Because the service is provided by thousands of satellites that cannot be easily destroyed in space, it is harder to disrupt than traditional internet services, making it ideally suited for use during war.

Mr. Musk’s involvement in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine dates to when Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, tweeted a message to him in February. Mr. Fedorov asked for help obtaining Starlink terminals so Ukrainians could stay online even if Russia damaged the country’s main telecommunications infrastructure.

Mr. Musk responded swiftly, with a shipment of Starlink equipment arriving in Ukraine two days later. Mr. Zelensky thanked the billionaire and said the service would help maintain communications in cities under attack from the Russians.

The roughly 20,000 terminals now being used in Ukraine are paid for by SpaceX, at least three Western governments and other allies, according to a SpaceX document shared with The New York Times. About 4,000 of the terminals are used by the Ukrainian Army, according to a letter that the army sent to SpaceX and shared with The Times. Mr. Musk has said SpaceX has waived the service’s monthly fees.

But by April, Mr. Musk made it clear that his help would go only so far. On Twitter, he said that as a “free speech absolutist,” he would not use Starlink to block Russian state media outlets that spread propaganda and misinformation on the war in Ukraine.

Last week, Mr. Musk said the operation in Ukraine had cost SpaceX $80 million to date. On Friday, he added that “burn” for the project, which refers to the money repeatedly spent by SpaceX, was about $20 million a month.

“In addition to terminals, we have to create, launch, maintain & replenish satellites & ground stations,” he tweeted. “We’ve also had to defend against cyberattacks & jamming, which are getting harder.”

Any Starlink pullback would be a blow to the Ukrainian Army, which has depended on the equipment for internet connectivity, especially given the Russian military’s ability to jam communications and leave swaths of Ukrainian territory without power. Ukraine’s army has used Starlink, which troops say Russians have been unable to hack, for everything from calling in artillery support to messaging loved ones at home.

The Starlink terminals have a small rectangular antenna that can be powered from car batteries. Ukrainian soldiers on the front have figured out how to camouflage the device by digging it into the ground so the terminals are protected from shelling but still able to receive and transmit data.

In July, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, a Ukrainian general, sent a letter to SpaceX and Mr. Musk, asking for an additional 6,700 Starlink terminals.

“Starlink terminals have the potential to comprise the primary infrastructure layer underlying the majority of communication along the chain of command,” the letter, which was shared with The Times, read. The army has not received the units.

In mid-September, Ukraine launched a counteroffensive and advanced into territory in the south that was previously occupied by Russia. Ukraine’s army lost access to the Starlink service in some areas near the front lines, three people with knowledge of the matter said. The service has been restored in key places, one of them said.

Days after the Ukrainian counteroffensive began, a Russian delegation to the United Nations suggested that Starlink satellites could become a military target. On Twitter, Mr. Musk insisted that Starlink was for peaceful use only.

Mr. Musk then began promoting his proposed peace plan between Russia and Ukraine. He called on Ukraine to accept Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and agree to new referendums in Russian-occupied Ukraine that would let residents choose who should control those territories. He created a Twitter poll asking if “the will of the people” in occupied areas should decide if they were part of Ukraine or Russia.

Mr. Zelensky posted a Twitter poll of his own, asking, “Which Elon Musk do you like more: one who supports Ukraine, or one who supports Russia?”

Mr. Musk countered by tweeting, “I still very much support Ukraine, but am convinced that massive escalation of the war will cause great harm to Ukraine and possibly the world.”

The Kremlin praised Mr. Musk’s proposal.

“It’s very positive that such a person as Elon Musk is trying to look for a peaceful settlement,” Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, said. “As for the referendums, people have voiced their opinion, and there could be nothing else.”

On Friday, Pentagon officials said there had been discussions about how to help the Ukrainian military stay online during the war. One official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Defense Department officials hoped that Mr. Musk and Ukrainian officials could work out a path forward, but added that the possibility of the Pentagon’s footing the bill for the Starlink service in Ukraine was not out of the question.

“The department continues to work with industry to explore solutions for Ukraine’s armed forces as they repel Russia’s brutal and unprovoked aggression,” the Pentagon press secretary, Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, said in an email. “We do not have anything else to add at this time.”

Ms. Lu of the Eurasia Group said Ukraine probably had few options other than to maintain a friendly relationship with Mr. Musk because of his control of Starlink. Mr. Musk owns 44 percent of SpaceX, which is a private company.

“Even if they are not happy with the situation, they have to deal with it, because they are so dependent on the technology,” Ms. Lu said.

Reporting was contributed by Adam Satariano, Julian Barnes, Michael Schwirtz and Thomas Gibbons-Neff.