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After reports surfaced on Oct. 14 that Elon Musk's SpaceX had sent a letter last month to the Pentagon with a request to take over funding for Ukraine's use of Starlink satellites, a senior defense official said the U.S. was assessing its options and trying to do what it can "to help keep these satcoms for the Ukrainian forces," according to a U.S. Defense Department news release.
In the letter, SpaceX claimed taking over the funding for the satellites would cost the Pentagon more than $120 million for the rest of the year and could cost close to $400 million for the next 12 months.
So far roughly 20,000 Starlink satellite units have been donated to Ukraine, CNN.
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