It is a guarantee of safety in an ocean of uncertainty. Sunday, March 9, Elon Musk, owner of the Starlink satellite network, also right -hand man of US President Donald Trump, said that “despite all [ses] Disagreements with Ukraine’s policy, Starlink will never close its terminals “in the country.” I simply mean that without Starlink, Ukrainian networks would collapse since the Russians can muddle all other communication channels! But we would never do it or use it as a means of negotiation, “he added.
Starlink, owned by the company SpaceX, provides a crucial internet connection to kyiv and its army, in order to replace the communication services destroyed by Russia after its invasion launched in February 2022.
Before that, Elon Musk had cast doubt by writing: “My Starlink system is the spine of the Ukrainian army. All their front line would collapse if I put it out.” This pushed the Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski to answer him: “It is the Polish ministry for digitization that pays the Starlink satellites for Ukraine, for $ 50 million a year.” “Shut up, little man. You pay a small part of the total cost. And there is no substitute for Starlink,” said Elon Musk.
“Say ‘thank you'”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio – who, according to the American press, recently had disagreements with Elon Musk – got involved in exchange, accusing his Polish counterpart of “inventing things”. “No one threatened to cut access to Starlink to Ukraine. And say ‘thank you’ because without Starlink Ukraine has lost this war for a long time and the Russians are currently on the Polish border,” he said.
A message followed by effects since Radoslaw Sikorski quickly replied: “Thank you Marco for this confirmation that the courageous Ukrainian soldiers can count on the vital digital service jointly brought by the United States and Poland”. A faithful ally of Ukraine, Poland claims its important relay function for the logistical support of Western military and humanitarian aid provided in kyiv.
Pressure means
Nevertheless, a few weeks ago, American negotiators, who put kyiv to obtain access to strategic ores of the country, were said to have mentioned the possibility of cutting its access to the Internet Satellite Starlink system, according to the British agency Reuters. The multimillionaire and right-hand man of the American president had later denied this information on his social network X (ex-Twitter), qualifying the article as “false” and accusing the news agency “lie”.
At the end of February, the newspaper The Kyiv Independentrecalled that around 42,000 Starlink terminals are operational in hospitals, businesses and the army in Ukraine. Losing Starlink would largely change the situation for the country. Since the verbal confrontation between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House at the end of February, the Americans suspended the crucial military aid they bring to kyiv, as well as the sharing of information.