Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called on “friends” to respect their allies and not to be arrogant in a post on X on Monday, the 10th of March, without mentioning anyone by name, a day after an unusual row on social media between top US and Polish officials over Starlink, reports Reuters.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday accused Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski of “making things up” and said he was being ungrateful after Sikorski said Ukraine might need an alternative to Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite service if the service became unreliable.
Poland pays for Ukraine to use Starlink, which provides vital internet access to Kyiv and its military.
“TRUE LEADERSHIP MEANS RESPECT FOR PARTNERS AND ALLIES. EVEN FOR THE SMALLER AND WEAKER ONES,” PRIME MINISTER TUSK WROTE. “NEVER ARROGANCE. DEAR FRIENDS, THINK ABOUT IT.”
Rubio had also pointed out that “no one has made any threat to cut Ukraine off from Starlink”.
“And say thank you, because without Starlink, Ukraine would have lost this war a long time ago, and the Russians would be at the Polish border by now,” Rubio added.
Sikorski later replied: “Thank you, Marco, for confirming that the brave Ukrainian soldiers can rely on the vital internet service jointly provided by the US and Poland”.
Musk had earlier told Sikorski to “be quiet” and called him a “little man” after he suggested that Poland, which says it pays 50 million US dollars a year for Starlink services to Ukraine, might have to look for another provider if Musk’s service was unreliable.
The US government has already cut Ukraine off from access to satellite imagery and suspended intelligence sharing, increasing pressure on Kiyv as Trump seeks a quick end to a war that has been going on since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Shares in the Franco-British satellite operator Eutelsat rose by as much as 650% last week amid speculation that the company could replace Starlink and provide internet access to Ukraine.
Musk, who is a senior official in US President Donald Trump’s administration, said on Sunday in a post on X that Ukraine’s “whole front line would collapse if I shut it (Starlink) down”.
After several X posts on the subject, Musk later announced that he would not disconnect Starlink for Ukraine.
“Let me be clear, as much as I disagree with Ukrainian policy, Starlink will never shut down its terminals … We would never do anything like that and use it as a bargaining tool.”