Tesla and SpaceX CEO insists he won’t 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 the usage of Musk’s Starlink internet service in Ukraine.
Throughout the tense trade on X on Sunday, Sikorski urged that Poland, which pays Ukraine’s Starlink prices to assist it repel Russia’s invasion, might need to hunt various 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 at least one 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 consumer 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 will probably 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 submit, accusing the Polish politician of “making issues up”.
“Nobody has made any threats about reducing Ukraine off from Starlink,” Rubio mentioned.
“And say thanks as a result of with out Starlink Ukraine would have misplaced this struggle way back and Russians can 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 fee. 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 reducing Ukraine’s entry to the Starlink service whereas pushing Kyiv for entry to the nation’s essential 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 prime diplomat.
“To be extraordinarily clear, regardless of how a lot I disagree with the Ukraine coverage, Starlink won’t ever turn off its terminals,” Musk mentioned.
“I’m merely stating that, with out Starlink, the Ukrainian traces 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 navy 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 military aid to Ukraine, and on Wednesday, CIA Director John Ratcliffe mentioned that the US had additionally halted intelligence sharing with Ukraine. US officers urged the pause on each the navy help and intelligence sharing can be lifted if there was a diplomatic breakthrough between Trump and Zelenskyy on bringing a swift finish to the struggle.
Trump mentioned on Sunday that the US had “nearly” ended the suspension, and that he expects good outcomes out of upcoming talks with Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia.
Requested if he would contemplate ending the suspension, Trump mentioned, “We nearly have. We nearly have.”
US officers will meet on Tuesday with the Ukrainian delegation in Jeddah partially to find out whether or not Ukraine is prepared to make materials concessions to Russia to finish the struggle. Additionally hanging over the talks is the destiny of a minerals deal between Washington and Kyiv.
