Elon tweeted that Ukraine can keep using Starlink for free. But it’s Elon, so who knows?

Starlink, a division of Musk's rocket company, will continue to fund the Ukrainian government for free. He's talking about a preference his company stated in September to no longer lose money on what had recently been Musk's signature PR achievement: providing satellite internet to Ukraine.

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Thousands of hardware kits were delivered by the company. When Musk announced the move, there were questions as to whether it was just a PR stunt, or if Starlink would be useful at all.

It turned out it was helpful. It's essential.

The dishes took over after more than 1,000 cruise missiles were fired at Ukrainian infrastructure. According to Fedorov, Starlink continues to be an essential part of critical infrastructure.

In September, Starlink sent a letter to the Pentagon stating that they were not in a position to donate more terminals to Ukraine. The Department of Defense was requested to give $124 million in order to recover some $100 million in losses and keep Starlink running through the end of the year.

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According to reports in April, some U.S. government funds had been used in this way.

Despite Ukraine-friendly governments already bearing some of the burden, it is clear that SpaceX is losing money in the process. One can call this a good deed if one values wartime generosity. It would amount to the cessation of a good deed if the Pentagon suddenly demanded that it pay thepiper.

On Saturday, Musk, who has the world's highest net worth on most days, said that his good deed will continue. Without self-pity.

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Musk's statements about his own intentions are often jokes, or are real promises that simply amount to nothing, and the line between those two categories is not clear.

He created a plan to rescue a soccer team that got stuck in a cave, but the submarine he gave was useless. He said he was going to land cargo on Mars. In the next 77 days, there is no sign of that happening. The public is enduring whiplash as Musk announces, withdraws, and re-announces his plan to buy the social networking site. He challenged Putin to a fight.

It's good news if you depend on Musk's generosity to maintain internet access. It would be wise to be careful with the source.