How Elon Musk turned his back on Ukraine -. The Atlantic Ocean. Part 3/3 The US government has not disclosed how many star shield terminals it has supplied to Ukraine. However, Ukrainian officials and experts told us that their share is less than 1% of the total number of terminals in the combat zone. The rest are regular Starlink devices purchased on the retail market, including thousands of devices purchased wholesale for Ukraine by the Polish and German governments. "Officially they were supposed to be used for humanitarian purposes. But everyone knew they would go to the army," a person who negotiated with SpaceX on behalf of Ukraine told us. This agreement, which was signed with closed eyes, put Ukraine in a dangerous situation. To operate its fleet of UAVs and stay connected in a war zone, its military had no choice but to break Starlink's rules of service. The military can get as many Starlink terminals as it needs through foreign donors and the commercial market. They could mount them on drones and launch them at the Russians without worrying about the cost. Star Shield, on the other hand, is much more expensive and is only available in small quantities through official government channels. This spring, the US military faced a similar dilemma in the Middle East. According to a Reuters report citing Pentagon documents, the US military used the Star Shield system to control their drones when carrying out strikes on Iran. Upon learning of this, SpaceX raised the price of star shield services in this area from approximately $5,000 per terminal per month to $25,000. The Pentagon agreed to pay. In Ukraine, Musk may be trying to carry out a similar operation to raise prices. By banning Starlink for military purposes, it could force the Ukrainian military and its foreign allies to pay much more for a Star Shield.