Tesla and SpaceX CEO insists he is not going to lower Ukraine’s entry to web service regardless of his disagreements with Kyiv.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk and United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio have traded barbs with Polish Overseas Minister Radoslaw Sikorski over using Musk’s Starlink web service in Ukraine.
Throughout the tense change on X on Sunday, Sikorski prompt that Poland, which pays Ukraine’s Starlink prices to assist it repel Russia’s invasion, might need to hunt different suppliers if Musk’s satellite tv for pc community proves to be an “unreliable supplier”.
Sikorski made the feedback after Musk, certainly one of US President Donald Trump’s most influential allies, mentioned the Ukrainian military’s “whole entrance line would collapse” with out Starlink.
“I actually challenged Putin to 1 on one bodily fight over Ukraine and my Starlink system is the spine of the Ukrainian military. Their whole entrance line would collapse if I turned it off,” Musk mentioned in response to an X person who accused him of not treating Russia because the aggressor and solely criticising Ukraine.
“What I’m sickened by is years of slaughter in a stalemate that Ukraine will inevitably lose.”
Starlinks for Ukraine are paid for by the Polish Digitization Ministry at the price of about $50 million per 12 months.
The ethics of threatening the sufferer of aggression aside, if SpaceX proves to be an unreliable supplier we might be pressured to search for different suppliers. https://t.co/WaJWCklgPE— Radosław Sikorski 🇵🇱🇪🇺 (@sikorskiradek) March 9, 2025
Rubio got here to Musk’s defence following Sikorski’s publish, accusing the Polish politician of “making issues up”.
“Nobody has made any threats about chopping Ukraine off from Starlink,” Rubio mentioned.
“And say thanks as a result of with out Starlink Ukraine would have misplaced this warfare way back and Russians could be on the border with Poland proper now.”
Musk later lashed out at Sikorski himself, posting: “Be quiet, small man. You pay a tiny fraction of the price. And there’s no substitute for Starlink.”
Final month, the Reuters information company, citing three unnamed sources, reported that US negotiators had raised the potential for chopping Ukraine’s entry to the Starlink service whereas pushing Kyiv for entry to the nation’s vital minerals.
On Sunday, Musk, who leads Trump’s Division of Authorities Effectivity, insisted he wouldn’t lower off Ukraine’s entry to Starlink regardless of his blow-up with Poland’s high diplomat.
“To be extraordinarily clear, regardless of how a lot I disagree with the Ukraine coverage, Starlink won’t ever flip off its terminals,” Musk mentioned.
“I’m merely stating that, with out Starlink, the Ukrainian strains would collapse, because the Russians can jam all different communications! We might by no means do such a factor or use it as a bargaining chip.”
Poland funded about half of the estimated 42,000 Starlink terminals working in Ukraine.
The terminals have offered important web connectivity for Ukraine’s army and important providers following Russia’s destruction of the nation’s communications networks throughout its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Trump final week ordered a pause on all army help to Ukraine, and on Wednesday, CIA Director John Ratcliffe mentioned the US had additionally halted intelligence sharing with Ukraine.
US officers have prompt the pause on each army help and intelligence sharing could possibly be lifted if there’s a diplomatic breakthrough between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on bringing a swift finish to the warfare.
Trump mentioned on Sunday that the US had “nearly” ended the suspension of intelligence sharing, and that he expects good outcomes out of upcoming talks with Ukrainian officers in Saudi Arabia.
US officers are set to fulfill with the Ukrainian delegation in Jeddah on Tuesday because the Trump administration vies to safe a ceasefire and a “framework” for a peace settlement.
