After Elon Musk Supports Ukraine With Starlink, New Report Questions Recent Outages

The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine has seen opinions from many people around the world, and one voice that has gained traction is Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk.

A new report puts the focus on Musk and Starlink devices from his private company SpaceX.

What Happened: Musk pledged support to Ukraine earlier this year, providing Starlink internet service to residents of the country.

A new report from Financial Times says Starlink outages are occurring in portions of Ukraine and have impacted the fight against Russia for Ukrainian soldiers.

Soldiers reported outages of communication devices that help provide intelligence updates and allow constant communication.

The report said that some of the outages occurred when soldiers entered Russian-controlled territories. Regions named in the report have been a focus of counteroffensive efforts after Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed them last month.

Soldiers in areas not claimed by Russia have seen Starlink work fine, which led to allegations by Twitter users Friday that certain regions were seeing failures on purpose.

Related Link: Final Results Of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Poll About Elon Musk Is NOT What You'd ThinkWhy It’s Why It's Important: Musk took to Twitter Friday to deny portions of the report from Financial Times.

“Bad reporting by FT. This article falsely claims that Starlink terminals & service were paid for, when only a small percentage has been. This operation has cost SpaceX $80 million & will exceed $100 million by end of year,” Musk tweeted.

Musk told a user on Twitter he was in “regular contact” with Ukraine Digital Manger Mykhailo Fedorov.

The SpaceX CEO has shared several times how much has been spent to help Ukraine. 

“SpaceX’s out of pocket cost to enable & support Starlink in Ukraine is around $80 million so far. Our support for Russia is $0. Obviously, we are pro Ukraine,” Musk said previously.

The report of Starlink failures come after Musk angered some people, including Ukrainian officials, after outlining a plan for the war between Russia and Ukraine to end. One item Musk suggested was ceding some Ukrainian territory to Russia.

Musk suggested that some of what is happening on the battlefield between the two countries is “classified.” A source in the Financial Times story backs this, saying the blackouts of Starlink could be done to prevent misuse by Russia and is occurring in areas that has “not been made public yet.”

“It is absolutely clear to me that this is being done by representatives of Starlink to prevent the usage of their technology by Russian occupation forces,” Serhiy Prytula Charity Coordinator Roman Sinicyn said.

Benzinga's Take: Musk has been attacked many times on Twitter and social media for not doing enough to help the world. Musk was one of the earliest supporters of Ukraine after Russia invaded. It shouldn't come as a big surprise that Musk is now being attacked for Starlink not working well enough in the region. 

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