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ReutersUS Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Elon Musk have clashed with Poland’s foreign minister over the use of the tech billionaire’s Starlink satellite internet system in Ukraine.
Musk said on X that Ukraine’s “entire front line” would collapse if he turned the system off. Radoslaw Sikorski responded, saying his country paid for its use in Ukraine and a threat to shut it down would result in a search for another network.
Rubio dismissed Sikorski’s claims and told him to be grateful, while Musk called him a “small man”.
The exchange appeared to lead to Polish PM Donald Tusk calling on his country’s allies to show respect for their weaker partners, rather than arrogance.
Starlink’s system is part of SpaceX’s venture to provide high-speed internet to remote and underserved areas. It has been used extensively by the Ukrainian military.
Sunday’s exchange started when Musk posted that Starlink was the “backbone of the Ukrainian army” and that “their entire front line would collapse if I turned it off”.
Sikorski then responded, saying that Poland was paying for the service.
“Starlinks for Ukraine are paid for by the Polish Digitization Ministry at the cost of about $50 million per year,” Sikorski wrote. “The ethics of threatening the victim of aggression apart, if SpaceX proves to be an unreliable provider we will be forced to look for other suppliers.”
Getty ImagesIn response, Rubio said Sikorski was “just making things up… no-one has made any threats about cutting Ukraine off from Starlink”.
“And say thank you because without Starlink Ukraine would have lost this war long ago and Russians would be on the border with Poland right now,” he added.
Musk later responded to Sikorski’s post calling him a “small man”.
“Be quiet, small man. You pay a tiny fraction of the cost. And there is no substitute for Starlink,” he wrote.
On Monday morning Polish Prime Minister Tusk, without specifying who or what he was referring to, wrote on X: “True leadership means respect for partners and allies.
“Even for the smaller and weaker ones. Never arrogance. Dear friends, think about it.”
The Starlink terminals are key to Ukraine’s army operations and have been used since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022.
There are tens of thousands of terminals in the country, including up to 500 bought by the US Department of Defence in June 2023.
How does Ukraine’s army use Starlink?
Starlink provides internet connection enabling Ukrainian troops to observe what’s happening on the frontline.
Each military unit has a base where they receive a video stream from reconnaissance drones. Monitoring the battleground in real time compensates for the shortage of troops.
The Ukrainian Army does not need to keep large forces along the entire area they defend because they will know when Russian troops launch an attack and can quickly react by striking that area with artillery and other weapons.
Video streams from drones also help to direct artillery fire and identify targets for kamikaze drones.
They are the eyes of the Ukrainian troops, without which their lack of weapons and ammunition in would have catastrophic consequences. Starlink provides one of, if not the most, reliable means of communication.
Without it requesting evacuation or providing the exact location of a target would be much slower and more complicated as regular radio stations may be out of range, jammed or compromised.
Additional reporting by Abdujalil Abdurasulov
This article was originally published at www.bbc.com
