Donald Tusk, Poland’s prime minister, has referred to as on “pals” to respect their allies and never be smug in a put up on X that talked about no person by identify however was printed a day after a unprecedented social media spat between prime officers within the US and Poland over Starlink satellites.
Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, accused Poland’s overseas minister, Radosław Sikorski, of “making issues up” and recommended on Sunday he was ungrateful, in a robust rebuke after Sikorski stated Ukraine might have an alternative choice to Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite tv for pc service if it turns into unreliable.
Poland pays for Ukraine to make use of Starlink, which gives essential web connectivity to Kyiv and its army.
“True management means respect for companions and allies. Even for the smaller and weaker ones,” Tusk wrote in English on X. “By no means vanity. Pricey pals, give it some thought.”
Rubio had additionally stated that “nobody has made any threats about chopping Ukraine off from Starlink”.
“And say thanks as a result of with out Starlink Ukraine would have misplaced this warfare way back and Russians could be on the border with Poland proper now,” Rubio added.
Sikorski had later replied: “Thanks, Marco, for confirming that the courageous troopers of Ukraine can rely on the important web service supplied collectively by the US and Poland.”
Sikorski had been informed to “be quiet” and labelled a “small man” by Musk after he recommended that Poland, which says it pays $50m a yr for Ukraine’s Starlink companies, might have to seek out one other supplier if Musk’s service was deemed unreliable.
The US authorities has already revoked some entry to satellite tv for pc imagery for Ukraine and paused intelligence sharing, piling strain on Kyiv as Trump seeks a swift finish to the warfare, which is now in its fourth yr after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Shares within the Franco-British satellite tv for pc operator Eutelsat soared by as a lot as 650% final week amid hypothesis the corporate might exchange Starlink in offering web entry to Ukraine.
Musk, a high-profile determine in Donald Trump’s administration, stated in a put up on his X social media platform early on Sunday that Ukraine’s “total frontline would collapse if I turned it [Starlink] off”.
In a collection of posts on X on the topic, that lasted via the day, Musk stated later he wouldn’t flip off Starlink in Ukraine.
“To be extraordinarily clear, regardless of how a lot I disagree with the Ukraine coverage, Starlink won’t ever flip off its terminals … We’d by no means do such a factor or use it as a bargaining chip.”
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