Warsaw covering all costs for Kiev’s use of Starlink – foreign minister

Elon Musk sent units for his satellite system to Ukraine early in the conflict, but later refused to provide the service for free

Poland is paying all of the costs for Ukraine’s use of the Starlink satellite communication system, Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said during a press conference on Thursday.

Ukrainian officials have praised the system operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, which has ensured that Kiev’s troops and officials have access to the internet. The billionaire claimed it had withstood attempts by Moscow to disrupt the network. He started shipping Starlink ground equipment in the early days of the conflict, but later complained that the service was not being paid for by anyone. The Pentagon later picked up the tab.

”These Starlink modules, which are in use in Ukraine, are not sponsored by Mr Elon Musk, but are and will be financed exclusively by Poland,” Sikorsky told the press. “We are doing it, and no one else is doing it.”

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The funding is one of the aspects of practical support for Kiev’s war against Russia, which the Polish government outlined for President Andrzej Duda ahead of an international meeting, the minister said.

The Polish president was supposed to travel to Germany this week to participate in a gathering of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a collective of nations providing military assistance to the country. However, the event was postponed after US President Joe Biden canceled his trip to Europe, saying his administration was focused on dealing with Hurricane Milton.

Warsaw pledged to pay for Kiev’s operation of over 20,000 Starlink terminals in May. At the time, Minister of Digitization Krzysztof Gawkowski called the devices “one of the building blocks” for online connectivity in Ukraine, before declaring his country to be in a “cyber cold war with Russia.” Poland is one of the most vocal proponents of the West backing Kiev “for as long as it takes” to defeat Moscow.

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The initial lionization of Musk in Ukraine for the support he was providing turned into disdain, after he started expressing skepticism about Kiev’s military strategy, and called for peace talks with Russia. In October 2022, Ukrainian diplomat Andrey Melnik, who was serving as ambassador to Germany at the time, told the entrepreneur to “f**k off,” after he floated the idea of UN-supervised referendums in former Ukrainian regions.