Tesla will pay its Ukrainian employees up to three months’ salary if they were required to fight in the Ukraine war. The company confirmed in an internal email that personnel operating as reservists during the invasion of Russia keep your job. After the quarter, the situation will be analyzed and new measures will be taken.
In a letter sent to employees in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), made available to CNBC, the actions of Tesla and SpaceX in the war conflict are mentioned. Axel Tangen, director of Tesla for Northern Europe, mentioned that the priority is its employees and families.
For any Tesla employee who is a Ukrainian citizen and has been asked to return to Ukraine for active duty as a reservist, we will hold their employment and salary for 3 months, with a view to evaluating after this period as necessary.
Tesla’s decision comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared a state of emergency which ordered to recruit reservists from 18 to 60 years. The mandatary mobilized more than 200,000 people to send them to the front lines from the first day of the invasion
Tesla’s support in the Ukraine war
The company also announced that Superchargers opened on the border with Ukraine to support those affected. The company contacted about 5,000 owners of a Tesla in that country to inform them that they can use charging stations for free. The offer applies to anyone who has an electric car, regardless of the manufacturer.
The actions of the company do not end there, since it also collaborated in the deployment of star link in Ukraine. According to Tang, Tesla partnered with SpaceX to streamline packaging and shipping of antennas to the country at war. Employees of the Berlin Gigafactory volunteered to set up, test and pack hundreds of cymbals of the SpaceX service.
A few days ago, Elon Musk confirmed the shipment of Starlink antennas to keep the internet connection active. Faced with the threat of sabotage and power outages, Mykhailo Fedorov, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, He sent a message on Twitter to Musk asking for help.
The response was immediate and the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX said that the service was already active in the country.
In the internal mail it is mentioned that volunteers from the Gigafactory Berlin They worked for three days pack and test Starlink antennas. In addition to that, the Energy team assembled a fleet of Powerwalls and power cables with donated equipment and scrap from the German factory.
Volunteers from the Berlin Gigafactory collaborate with SpaceX
Tesla does not have an official presence in the country, however, the company does its best to support the victims of the Ukraine war. Although Starlink’s offering of antennas has good cause, some security experts warn against the danger of using satellite internet in a conflict zone.
“If Russia has a specialized aircraft in flight, it can detect satellite signals and mark them as targets,” he told CNN Nicholas Weaver, a security expert at the University of California at Berkeley. The Russians have already proven they can track signals and sabotage the enemy in Syria, so a Starlink antenna makes its owner a potential target.
Elon Musk is aware of this and warned to use the service with caution and install the antenna as far away as possible from populated areas. For now, internet service remains stable in much of Ukraine, except in the east and south of the country due to constant bombing by the Russian army.