The Secretary of State of the United States, Marco Rubio, and billionaire Elon Musk have dedicated themselves to a heated exchange with Poland's Foreign Minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, on the use of the Starlink satellite Internet system in Ukraine.
Musk said in X that the “full front line” of Ukraine would collapse if Starlink turned off.
Sikorski responded by stating that Poland pays the service in Ukraine and warned that any threat to cut it would cause a search for an alternative provider.
“The Ministry of Digitization of Poland Pagan Starlinks for Ukraine at the cost of approximately $ 50 million per year,” Sikorski wrote. “The ethics of threatening the victim of separate aggression, if Spacex proves to be an unreliable provider, we will be forced to look for other suppliers.”
Rubio ruled out Sikorski's comments, accusing him of manufacturing claims. “Simply invent things … No one has made any threat on separating Ukraine from Starlink,” he said.
He also told Sikorski to be grateful, and added: “And he says because without Starlink Ukraine he would have lost this war a long time ago and the Russians would be on the border with Poland at this time.”
Musk also responded directly to Sikorski, calling him a “small man.” “Be quiet, small man. You pay a small fraction of the cost. And there is no Starlink substitute, ”he wrote.
The exchange seemed to cause a response from the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who published in X on Monday morning without naming anyone specifically. “True leadership means respect for partners and allies.
Even for the smallest and weakest. Never arrogance. Dear friends, think about it, ”he wrote.
Starlink, developed by Musk's Spacex, has been a crucial component of Ukraine military operations since the Russian invasion in February 2022.
The system allows communication for recognition drones, which provide battlefield data in real time, helping to direct the artillery fire and identify objectives for Kamikaze drones.
It also plays a fundamental role in the coordination of evacuations and the transmission of objective locations, since traditional radio systems can get stuck, out of reach or committed. Tens of thousands of Starlink terminals are in use in Ukraine, including up to 500 bought by the United States Department of Defense in June 2023.
(ABC News)