They are now. For the first year or so of the war Elon was providing the service free of charge. The contract from DoD to support Ukraine apparently only dates

They are now. For the first year or so of the war Elon was providing the service free of charge. The contract from DoD to support Ukraine apparently only dates to June 2 2023 [0]. Quoting: "Back in February, it emerged that Starlink had taken unidentified steps to prevent Ukrainian forces from using its satellite service for what the company regarded as unacceptable purposes, such as to remotely control drones. At the time, SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell said that Starlink was never meant to be weaponized, but claimed that 'Ukrainians have leveraged it in ways that were unintentional and not part of any agreement.' This may have had something to do with Russia issuing a warning to the United Nations that commercial satellite systems like Starlink risked becoming legitimate military targets by allowing their services to be used in warzones." That's from the Register. There was another article at Defensescoop [1] that had discussion on hacker news here. [2] [0]: https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/02/starlink_ukraine_defense_contract/ https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/02/starlink_ukraine_defe... [1]: https://defensescoop.com/2023/06/01/pentagon-contracting-with-spacexs-starlink-to-provide-satellite-communication-capabilities-for-ukraine/ https://defensescoop.com/2023/06/01/pentagon-contracting-wit... [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36185291 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36185291