Since October 24, 1,300 Starlink terminals have been shut down for the Ukrainian military due to funding problems. This was reported by CNN with reference to two sources.
One of them said that the terminals were turned off due to a "lack of funding". According to this source, the Ukrainian military paid $2,500 a month to keep each of the 1,300 units connected, bringing the total cost to nearly $20 million by September. Eventually, the military could no longer afford to pay for Starlink.
The outage affected a block of 1,300 terminals that Ukraine purchased in March from a British company and used for combat operations. Before the terminals were completely shut down, in early October, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine asked its British counterparts to pay a monthly bill of $3.25 million. A British official said that after discussions between ministries, "it was decided that military capabilities have a higher priority."
"We maintain a number of terminals that are of direct tactical importance to the Ukrainian military in reflecting a Russian invasion," a British official told CNN.
In September, SpaceX wrote a letter to the Pentagon in which it stated that there are almost 20,000 Starlink terminals in Ukraine. Most of them were acquired with external funding, in particular from the governments of the USA, Poland, and Great Britain. These funding sources also paid approximately 30% of the monthly utility bill. It is not known how many terminals are used in the army.
- On October 14, it became known that the SpaceX company warned the Pentagon that it could stop funding Starlink in Ukraine unless the US military allocates tens of millions of dollars a month. The Office of the President of Ukraine replied that Ukraine would find a way to maintain Starlink. Later, Elon Musk changed his mind and announced that he would continue to finance Starlink services in Ukraine.
- On October 18, it became known that the Pentagon was discussing the possibility of paying for Starlink Internet for Ukraine. At the same time, Musk announced that SpaceX had withdrawn its request for payment by the Pentagon for Starlink.
- On October 21, Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov announced that Ukraine had already found three sources of funding for Starlink for its military.