‘Say thanks:’ Social media conflict erupts between Polish overseas minister, Rubio over Kyiv’s Starlink entry

A social media spat erupted between Polish International Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday (March 9) over Ukraine’s entry to the Starlink satellite tv for pc service.

It began when Sikorski took to X to specific his frustration over hints by US officers and billionaire Elon Musk that Ukraine’s entry to the very important communication system may be lower off if Kyiv doesn’t negotiate a minerals cope with Washington. The overseas minister warned that Poland can be pressured to search for options if SpaceX continues to be such an unreliable accomplice.

“Starlinks for Ukraine are paid for by the Polish Digitization Ministry at the price of about $50 million per 12 months,” Sikorski wrote on X.

“The ethics of threatening the sufferer of aggression aside, if SpaceX proves to be an unreliable supplier we can be pressured to search for different suppliers,” the minister additional said.

Nevertheless, this public criticism of US administration and SpaceX didn’t go down effectively with Marco Rubio, who accused Sikorski of “making issues up” and being “ungrateful” for US assist.

“No-one has made any threats about slicing Ukraine off from Starlink,” Rubio wrote in response.

“And say thanks as a result of with out Starlink Ukraine would have misplaced this conflict way back and Russians could be on the border with Poland proper now,” Rubio added.

Musk’s warning over Starlink entry

Sikorski’s criticism of SpaceX on Sunday was apparently triggered by
Musk’s assertion earlier within the day that Ukraine’s frontline would collapse if their entry to Starlink is restricted.

Responding to criticism that Musk was solely keen on criticising Ukraine and never Russia, Musk wrote, “I actually challenged Putin to at least one on one bodily fight over Ukraine and my Starlink system is the spine of the Ukrainian military. Their complete entrance line would collapse if I turned it off.”

“What I’m sickened by is years of slaughter in a stalemate that Ukraine will inevitably lose,” he continued. “Anybody who actually cares, actually thinks and actually understands needs the meat grinder to cease. PEACE NOW!!”

Final month, it was reported that US officers had been threatening Kyiv to chop off Ukrainian forces’ entry to very important Starlink community to press it to signal the minerals deal.

Following the spat between Sikorski and Rubio, Musk was fast to again the secretary of state.

“Completely appropriate,” Musk wrote in response to Rubio’s dressing-down of the Polish overseas minister.

In a separate reply to Sikorski’s publish, Musk wrote, “Be quiet, small man. You pay a tiny fraction of the associated fee. And there’s no substitute for Starlink.”