Elon Musk does not betray his hunger for eccentric and, within hours, of the announcement that he would no longer donate his Starlink satellites to Ukraine, he backs down.
As usual, the Tesla boss has entrusted the important communication to Twitter, the social media that is preparing to buy for the modest sum of 44 billion dollars.
"To hell with it! Even if Starlink loses money while other companies earn billions from taxpayers, we will continue to finance the Ukrainian government for free", the richest man in the world announced in a post, throwing a dig, perhaps, at the many American defense industries. which are financed by the Pentagon to supply weapons to the US reserves that Joe Biden's administration has been drawing on for months to help Ukraine in the war against Russia.
Musk had turned to the Defense Department in recent days asking him to take on the burdensome expenses of the satellite network which has become essential for the communications of the Kiev army and, consequently, for the progress of the conflict.
His SpaceX has, in fact, spent 80 million dollars so far for the more than 20 thousand terminals sent to Ukraine but, according to his calculations, the costs could exceed 120 million by the end of the year and 400 in the following 12 months.
"We are not in a position to donate other terminals or finance existing ones for an indefinite period of time," the billionaire wrote in a letter to the Pentagon.
The Defense Department was not particularly enthusiastic about Musk's request.
Beyond the leaked annoyance for an attitude defined as "typical" by Tesla's patron who "first deceives millions of people and then presents the account to third parties", there is the fact that SpaceX is not the only company capable to provide satellites.
The Pentagon is considering all options and is consulting with US partners to find the best ways to help Ukraine, the White House pointed out hours ago.
Could this be what changed Musk's mind?
Or the risk of being considered a "friend of Putin" for announcing the withdrawal of Starlink from Ukraine a few days after the presentation, also on Twitter,
of a clearly pro-Russia peace plan?
And there are also those who hypothesize that the turnaround is just a joke, that Tesla's patron has not changed his mind at all and that it is only a sarcastic joke, made however at the expense of a people and an army that now depend on its satellites.