US strongly reacts to Polish foreign minister: No one threatened to cut Starlink in Ukraine

On March 9, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and technology billionaire Elon Musk reacted harshly to Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, rejecting Mr. Sikorski's concerns that Starlink could be cut off in Ukraine.

The Polish government has announced the donation of 20,000 Starlink Internet devices in Ukraine, which are essential for Kiev's military communications. Polish Digital Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski confirmed this during a visit to Kiev, stressing that Starlink not only supports the Ukrainian military but also provides important connectivity for hospitals. In the photo: Starlink Internet devices in Kharkiv, Ukraine on September 25, 2022 - Photo: AFP/TTXVN

Strong statement from Polish foreign minister

According to Bloomberg, on March 9, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski announced that the country may replace another service provider if billionaire Elon Musk turns off the Starlink satellite Internet system with Ukraine.

Accordingly, in a post on social network X, Mr. Radoslaw Sikorski said: "If SpaceX proves to be an unreliable supplier, we will be forced to look for another supplier."

The Polish diplomat’s statement came shortly after billionaire Elon Musk posted on the same day on social network X: “My Starlink is the backbone of the Ukrainian army. If I turn it off, their entire defense line will collapse.” The billionaire also expressed frustration with the protracted conflict, which he said Ukraine “cannot avoid defeat.”

European Union (EU) leaders recently met in Brussels (Belgium) for an emergency summit aimed at sharply increasing defense spending, and the region has begun looking for alternatives to Starlink.

An estimated 42,000 Starlink terminals are in operation across hospitals, businesses and the military in Ukraine.

In fact, during the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Starlink satellite internet played an important role in Ukraine's civil and military communications infrastructure. Experts assessed that Starlink plays an essential role in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which are currently one of the main means of Kiev's combat operations. Losing Starlink would have many consequences for the Ukrainian military.

Poland has previously confirmed that it is the party that signed the contract and paid for the Starlink satellite internet service to Ukraine. Radoslaw Sikorski said that it was the Polish Ministry of Digitalization that paid $50 million per year for Ukraine to access the system.

"We are and will continue to pay subscription fees for satellite Internet services in Ukraine. It is unthinkable that someone could decide to terminate a commercial agreement to provide services to which Poland is a party," the Polish official said in late February, when the media reported that the US would cut off access to Starlink satellites to Ukraine if Kiev refused to sign a $500 billion rare earths deal.

Facing the risk of Ukraine being cut off from this communications system, French satellite service provider Eutelsat said it is negotiating with the European Union (EU) to replace Starlink as the main platform for Ukraine's military communications. This information was reported by The Guardian citing the company's CEO, Ms. Eva Berneke, on March 6.

Eutelsat is already operating in Ukraine and currently has thousands of terminals, although not all are connected, Berneke noted. She said discussions with the provider are ongoing and it would take several months to deploy 40,000 terminals, the number of Starlink terminals currently in use in Ukraine.

US reacts, accuses of "fabricating stories"

Immediately afterwards, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reacted strongly and accused his Polish counterpart Sikorski of "making up stories".

“Nobody is threatening to cut off Ukraine’s Starlink,” Rubio said, adding: “And thank you, because without Starlink, Ukraine would have lost this war a long time ago, and Russian troops would be right on the Polish border.”

For his part, technology billionaire Elon Musk also criticized and said that Poland only paid a very small part of the total cost of maintaining Starlink for Ukraine.

Meanwhile, according to Foreign Minister Sikorski, Poland has provided half of Ukraine's total 42,000 Starlink terminals, at a cost of about $50 million a year.

However, billionaire Musk strongly objected and said bluntly that "he only paid a small portion of the cost" and "there is no service that can replace Starlink".

Earlier in the day, billionaire Musk claimed that if he stopped supplying Starlink, the entire Ukrainian frontline would collapse immediately.

According to The Kyiv Independent, both Mr. Musk and Mr. Rubio have recently made statements criticizing the Kiev government.

On March 5, Mr. Rubio declared that the Russia-Ukraine conflict is essentially “a proxy war” between Moscow and Washington.

Mr Rubio also accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of “undermining” US President Donald Trump’s peace plan, following a tense and public argument between the two leaders in the Oval Office of the White House on February 28.

Most recently, on March 7, AFP news agency reported that a spokesman for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) announced that Washington had "temporarily suspended" Ukraine's access to commercial satellite imaging services purchased by the US government.

Maxar, one of the companies contracted by the US program to provide imagery to Kiev, confirmed the information, saying “there is no change to how we support other customers or their programs or contracts.”

Billionaire Musk has made similar statements. He has repeatedly criticized President Zelensky’s stance, calling for “immediate peace,” but has avoided mentioning Russian President Vladimir Putin’s responsibility in the conflict.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/my-phan-ung-gay-gat-ngoai-truong-ba-lan-khong-ai-doa-cat-starlink-o-ukraine-ca-20250310073400691.htm