US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Elon Musk have clashed virtually with Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, who commented on the cost of Musk's company, Starlink, which Poland is paying for.
Sikorski wrote in a post on "X" that Poland may look for another alternative for satellite internet service in Ukraine if Elon Musk's company, SpaceX, does not guarantee reliable service.
"Starlink for Ukraine was paid for by the Polish Ministry of Digitalization at a cost of about $50 million per year. In addition to the ethical aspect of threatening an attacked country, if SpaceX proves to be an unreliable supplier, we will be forced to look for another alternative for satellite internet," he wrote.
This post was immediately followed by a reaction from Musk, who responded to the Polish Foreign Minister with the words: "Shut up, little man. You only pay a small fraction of the cost. And there is no substitute for Starlink."
Be quiet, little man.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 9, 2025
You pay a tiny fraction of the cost.
And there is no substitute for Starlink.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also weighed in on the issue, criticizing Sikorski's post for making things up and asking him to say thank you. "Just making things up. No one has made any threats 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 on the Polish border right now," Rubio wrote.
Just making things up.
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 9, 2025
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 https://t.co/ImeiHFgaaw
Musk then retweeted Rubio's message, fully supporting him and saying, "What Secretary Rubio is saying is absolutely correct."
In a later post, Musk denied that his company would cut off Ukraine's access to Starlink.
"Although I disagree with Ukraine's policy, Starlink will never close its terminals. What I'm saying is that without Starlink, the Ukrainian front would collapse as the Russians would block all other communications. We would not do this and would not use it as a bargaining chip," he wrote.