Elon Musk Says SpaceX Will Continue to Cover Starlink Costs in Ukraine

”The hell with it,” Mr. Musk tweeted on Saturday. “Even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free.”

The 20,000 Starlink terminals estimated to be in operation across Ukraine have played a crucial role in maintaining the country’s communications during the war and are deployed at hundreds of Ukrainian military outposts where they allow commanders to call in artillery strikes or coordinate operations in areas where cell service is jammed by Russia.

Mr. Musk didn’t provide further details in his tweet. But his announcement was praised by senior Ukrainian government officials.

“Thank you for joining the right side. Ukraine appreciates that,”

Mykhailo Podolyak,

an aide to Ukrainian President

Volodymyr Zelensky,

wrote in response.

Meanwhile, an explosion rocked the center of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, damaging the town hall that Russian proxy officials have occupied since they declared Donetsk as the capital of a breakaway pro-Moscow state in 2014.

Russia said this month that it had annexed Donetsk and three other Ukrainian regions that it has at least partly occupied, but Ukraine has vowed to regain control over the regions and has been pushing an advance into Russian-held territory in the east and south.

Russian-appointed officials blamed Ukraine for the explosion in Donetsk, claiming it had attacked using U.S.-provided Himars multiple-launch rocket systems. Kyiv didn’t immediately comment on the allegations.

Video posted to social media by Russian state news outlets showed the gutted multistory building with its windows blown out and the charred remains of vehicles parked beside it. Russian-installed authorities there said two people had been…