Elon Musk confirms Starlink will stay operational in Ukraine
American billionaire Elon Musk stated that the Starlink satellite service would continue operating in Ukraine.
He made the announcement on the social media platform X, where a dispute broke out on Sunday, March 9, between Musk, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as reported by DW.
Initially, Musk claimed that his Starlink system was the "backbone of the Ukrainian military," adding that if the service were cut off, the Ukrainian front would collapse entirely. In response, Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski pointed out that the Polish Ministry of Digital Technology funds Starlink for Ukraine, with Warsaw spending approximately $50 million annually on the service. "If SpaceX proves to be unreliable, we will have to look for other providers," Sikorski wrote on X.
Musk reacted harshly to Sikorski’s comment: "Shut up, little man. You only pay a small fraction of the costs. There's no alternative to Starlink." Later, he posted another message, emphasizing that, despite his disagreement with Kyiv’s policies, he would not shut down Starlink terminals in Ukraine and would not use the service as a tool for political pressure.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined the dispute on X, accusing Sikorski of spreading disinformation. "No one has threatened to cut off Starlink in Ukraine. You should be thanking us. Without Starlink, Ukraine would have already lost the war, and Russian troops would be at the Polish border," Rubio said.
Meanwhile, discussions are ongoing in Europe about replacing Starlink in Ukraine with another provider. According to Reuters, the Franco-British group Eutelsat is in talks with the European Union to have its OneWeb satellites potentially replace Starlink in Ukraine in the future.
"We are exchanging ideas with the EU on how we can support Ukraine’s efforts," said a representative of Eutelsat, adding that the company has the appropriate geostationary satellite capabilities for certain applications in the region.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
