Polish PM: True leadership means respect for partners and allies
Poland’s prime minister on Monday called on “friends” to respect their allies and not be arrogant, in a post on X which mentioned nobody by name but came a day after an extraordinary social media spat between top U.S. and Polish officials over Starlink.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Poland’s foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, of “making things up” and suggested on Sunday he was ungrateful, in a strong rebuke after Sikorski said Ukraine may need an alternative to Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite service if it becomes unreliable.
Poland pays for Ukraine to use the services of Starlink, which provides crucial internet connectivity to Kyiv and its military.
“True leadership means respect for partners and allies. Even for the smaller and weaker ones,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote in English on X. “Never arrogance. Dear friends, think about it.”
Rubio had also said that “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,” Rubio added.
Musk labelled Sikorski as a “small man” and told him to “be quiet”, after the Polish official suggested Poland, which pays $50 million per year for Ukraine’s Starlink services, might need to find another provider if Musk’s service was unreliable.
The U.S. government has already revoked some access to satellite imagery for Ukraine and paused intelligence sharing, piling pressure on Kyiv as Trump seeks a swift end to the war.
Musk, a high-profile figure in the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, said in a post on his X social media platform early on Sunday that Ukraine’s “entire front line would collapse if I turned it (Starlink) off”.
In a series of posts on X on the subject, which lasted through the day, Musk said later he would not turn off Starlink in Ukraine.
“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.”
In the meantime, shares in Franco-British satellite operator EutelsatETL.PA soared as much as 650% during the week ending March 7, due to speculation the company could replace Starlink in providing internet access to Ukraine.
