Rubio and Musk criticise Polish foreign minister in dispute over Ukraine Starlinks

Mar 9, 2025 | Featured, Politics

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Elon Musk have criticised Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, after he suggested that Musk had threatened Ukraine.

Rubio accused Sikorski of lying and called on him to show gratitude while Musk told him to “be quiet, small man”. Meanwhile, Poland’s conservative opposition criticised the foreign minister for threatening to undermine relations with the country’s most important ally.

The dispute centred around Starlink, a satellite communications system that is owned by Musk’s firm SpaceX. Ukraine has relied on Starlink terminals – many supplied by Poland – for communication during its war with Russia.

In a post on X, the social media platform he owns, early on Sunday, Musk noted that “my Starlink system is the backbone of the Ukrainian army” and “their entire front line would collapse if I turned it off”.

Sikorski then reposted Musk’s message, adding his own comment noting that Poland’s government pays around $50 million a year for Ukraine’s Starlinks.

“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 supplier,” wrote Sikorski.

 

That prompted an angry response from Musk, the world’s richest person and a key ally of US President Donald Trump. He wrote under Sikorski’s post: “Be quiet, small man. You pay a tiny fraction of the cost. And there is no substitute for Starlink.”

Meanwhile, Rubio accused Sikorski him of “just making things up” because “no one has made any threats about cutting Ukraine off from Starlink”.

Rubio then added: “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.”

Musk himself also confirmed in a separate post that, “to be extremely clear, no matter how much I disagree with the Ukraine policy, Starlink will never turn off its terminals…We would never do such a thing or use it as a bargaining chip”.

Asked about the spat, the spokesman for Poland’s foreign ministry, Paweł Wroński, told the Polish Press Agency (PAP) that “this discussion has perhaps made the American public aware that the United States does not pay for everything…and that Ukraine is not so much a loss as an investment in security”.

However, Sikorski’s remarks were widely criticised by figures from Poland’s main opposition party, the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS), which enjoyed close relations with Trump when it was previously in power and has welcomed his return to the White House.

“Poland is ruled by an unserious government that…is insulting the American administration,” wrote Michał Wójcik, a former government minister.

“For the good of Polish diplomacy, maybe someone should take away Sikorski’s Twitter?” commented former deputy foreign minister Paweł Jabłoński, referring to X’s name before it was taken over by Musk. “Preferably before it leads to the US withdrawing its troops from Poland.”

However, figures from Poland’s ruling coalition expressed support for Sikorski. “We can’t allow our foreign minister to be insulted. Musk should apologise to him,” wrote Roman Giertych, an MP.

“PiS supports the new US administration without limits, even when they attack our interests and security,” added Tomasz Trela, another MP. “Those who complain about their own government, [while] supporting foreign ones, are traitors, TRAITORS TO THEIR OWN NATION!”

Last week, Politico Europe reported that the European Commission is trying to help Ukraine find alternatives to Musk’s Starlinks. It noted that around half of the terminals used by Ukraine are financed by Poland.

Last week, shares in Eutelsat, a European satellite operator, at one stage rose by 650% amid speculation it could replace Stalink, reports Reuters. By Friday they had fallen to around 380% up from the start of the week.

Despite senior figures from Poland’s government, including Prime Minister Donald Tusk, having publicly criticised Trump in the past, they have so far appeared to enjoy positive relations with the new US administration.

On a visit to Warsaw last month, Trump’s defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, praised Poland as a “model ally” that “leads by example on a lot of things, including defence spending”. Poland has the highest relative defence budget in NATO, at 4.7%.

Two weeks ago, Sikorski met with Rubio in Washington, with the State Department saying afterwards that the pair had “reaffirmed the importance of US-Polish relations and discussed ways to further strengthen our partnership”.

However, following Trump’s recent clashes with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Poland’s government has rallied in support of Kyiv. Tusk last week called for Europe to focus on achieving “defence independence”, though he also emphasised the importance of maintaining a close alliance with the United States.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: PolandMFA/Flickr (under CC BY-NC 2.0)

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