Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis slammed some Ukrainian officials that have been publicly hostile toward tech billionaire Elon Musk in recent weeks, saying that they should be thankful for Musk’s contributions to their country and to not take it for granted.
The news comes as SpaceX, a company that Musk founded and where he serves as CEO, recently told the Pentagon that it needed to be compensated for tens of millions of dollars per month to continue operating Starlink satellites over Ukraine, which provide the country's military the ability to communicate in their war against the Russians. Musk later reversed course after public backlash and said that he would continue funding Ukraine despite losing money.
“Elon Musk positioned his satellites over Ukraine and gave them these things,” DeSantis said at a press conference on Monday. “So, they’ve actually been using his devices to be able to defend their country, and I guess some of the people in the, in the government were attacking Musk.”