After Poland spat, Musk vows Ukraine can keep Starlink

[Emrys]

Source: France 24

Washington (AFP) – Billionaire industrialist and senior White House advisor Elon Musk vowed Sunday to maintain Ukraine's access to his Starlink satellite network, after a fierce online clash with Poland's outspoken foreign minister.

The United States has suspended military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine after a disastrous February 28 meeting between presidents Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House.

This has led to fears that Musk, a close Trump ally, might cut off Ukrainian access to his private Starlink communications system, which is used extensively by Kyiv's frontline troops for battlefield communication.

On Sunday, during exchanges on his own X social media platform, Musk promised that this would not be the case, after an online clash with the Polish foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, that drew in US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

"To be extremely clear, no matter how much I disagree with the Ukraine policy, Starlink will never turn off its terminals," Musk wrote.

"I am simply stating that, without Starlink, the Ukrainian lines would collapse, as the Russians can jam all other communications! We would never do such a thing or use it as a bargaining chip."


Read more: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250309-after-poland-spat-musk-vows-ukraine-can-keep-starlink

[Lovie777]

1. Do not trust starlink......

[NotHardly]

29. Don't trust Musk or Trump... lying weasels

[dweller]

2. Don't trust e skum (N-ZA)

Go with the Poland option



✌🏻

[Prairie Gates]

3. Any sane country would be working overtime to put Musk and his companies in the rearview

Who wants this obnoxious and interventionist foreigner having any power over your national security?

[Skittles]

5. WTF

anyone who acted like Musk would be fired from any other job - he's so fucking unprofessional - I agree, links to that fucker AND all his products needs to be CUT

[Shipwack]

21. Not to mention his drug use would get any other contractor shown the door.

His ties to China would also disqualify anyone else. They have so much leverage on him he shouldn't be allowed within 50 miles of a federal building, let alone handle any contracts with a classification.

[Skittles]

22. I contracted for many government IT jobs

Last edited Mon Mar 10, 2025, 04:52 AM - Edit history (1)

I had to be vetted by the FBI - literally INTERVIEWED by them - HOW do these drug addicts and con artists and rapists PASS THE BACKGROUND CHECK?? WTF IS GOING ON HERE

[Shipwack]

24. Well, one of the reasons is the FBI's attitude.

Someone who worked on a transition team (forget who) sdid that the FBI considers the incoming administration to be the "customer", not the current administration or even the American people. That means they follow the lead of the incoming team. If they are ok with someone, the FBI is okay with them, and drops the matter instead of reporting publically, or passing it to the current White House occupants.

[Skittles]

25. they are NATIONAL SECURITY RISKS

[Srkdqltr]

4. It's amazing how pushback seems to work with these people.

[Skittles]

6. for now

it's almost like they are testing the limits and going more and more for broke.....

[Srkdqltr]

8. Yes. Im not sure what it means in the long run but it is interesting.

[Emrys]

7. It could be that

Not like Musk to back down in a verbal fight, though (physical ones are a different matter).

Thing is, Starlink might not cut off its services to Ukraine, but if Trump gave the order, what does anyone think would happen?

[EarthFirst]

9. Ukraine should be making every effort to remove and no longer rely on Starlink as part of their offensive strategy...

…at this point; I would consider Starlink to be completely compromised as a method of communication.

[Intractable]

10. I think Musk backed down because the Polish foreign minister basically threatened to move to a Starlink competitor.

This prompted Sikorski, in a post on X, to warn: "Starlinks for Ukraine are paid for by the Polish Digitization Ministry at the cost of about $50 million per year.

"The ethics of threatening the victim of aggression apart, if SpaceX proves to be an unreliable provider we will be forced to look for other suppliers."

[SunSeeker]

11. After Musk refused Starlink service to Ukraine in 2022, no country should do business with him.

The Ukrainians thought Starlink coverage was enabled all the way to Crimea, but it was not. In 2022, Ukraine asked Musk to enable it for their drone sub attack on the Russian fleet. Musk refused to enable it, because he claimed "it would cause a major war.” Ukraine could have recaptured Crimea but for Elon Musk.

[Scrivener7]

12. They should all ditch it.

[Martin68]

13. Musk must be earning a lot of money off of Starlink in Ukraine.

[SunSeeker]

15. Yes. Hundreds of millions of dollars per year.

The Defense Department acknowledged the decision but withheld virtually all details about the agreement, including how much it will cost U.S. taxpayers and when the contract was signed. U.S. defense officials had previously estimated that the annual cost for Starlink in Ukraine, which Musk mostly had been donating, will be hundreds of millions of dollars.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/06/01/starlink-ukraine-pentagon-elon-musk/

[Martin68]

32. That's why he hasn't blocked Starlink in Ukraine yet. Musk only understands two things: money and power.

[Martin68]

14. To all the people who are writing "don't trust Starlink," Ukraine desperately needs Starlink. Without it they have no

Last edited Mon Mar 10, 2025, 01:13 PM - Edit history (1)

internet. Perhaps you don't realize how vital it is to their defense against Russia.

[Emrys]

16. There are alternatives to Starlink. Maybe you don't realize that.

After recent moves by the US administration to withdraw certain types of support from Ukraine, there have been increased efforts among Europe's governments and the EU to step up with alternatives.

One is Eutelsat's OneWeb, Starlink's closest competitor, which is already being used in Ukraine. Veon, Ukraine's largest mobile network, signed a deal with OneWeb in 2023, and services are provided by its Kyivstar arm. The Ukrainian military ran trials with it a couple of years ago because Starlink is sometimes unreliable, and also because Musk had been uncooperative about its military use at one point.

OneWeb's contention ratios and download speeds can be a lot better than Starlink's. In a head-to-head comparison, OneWeb fared very well against Starlink: https://www.ipinternational.net/oneweb-vs-starlink-head-to-head/ In fact, the Ukrainian armed forces have turned to OneWeb in the recent past because Starlink can sometimes be unreliable even if Musk isn't dicking around with it: https://universemagazine.com/en/high-speed-satellite-internet-from-oneweb-will-appear-in-ukraine/

OneWeb now says that its latency in Europe (including Ukraine) is comparable to Starlink's. It's looking to have 40,000 terminals manufactured in the next couple of months to deploy to Ukraine if the funding's there.

[Martin68]

30. That's good news if it can be rapidly and widely implemented.

[Skittles]

23. what we're saying is PERHAPS IT SHOULD NOT BE VITAL

because President Musk is a VINDICTIVE POS who is HELPING TRUMP TO HELP RUSSIA

[Martin68]

31. Yes, I get that, but right now it is indeed vital. The sooner a suitable alternative can be implemented, the better.

Until then, Starlink is vital.

[mitch96]

17. From what I understand if muzk turns off starlink in Ukraine it also goes off in Ruzzia... Maybe that's why he is

reluctant to turn it off??
m

[Emrys]

19. There were reports last week

that Starlink connectivity to Russian "gray" Starlink terminals in Ukraine had been turned off.

[The Madcap]

18. I wouldn't trust any encryption starlink might have.

What would stop elmo from decrypting and passing the info to putin?

[moniss]

20. Edolph has historically been much like

Crumb The 1st in making phony promises. He was allowed to make snake oil promises about his vehicles and when they would be ready and what features they would have and then rake in deposits from people who swallowed the phony promises. Then he delayed and moved the goalposts repeatedly model after model but DOJ just kept letting this scam go on and on.

[58Sunliner]

26. I have no doubt that Musk can corrupt Starlink putting people at risk.

[lark]

27. He wants to keep Starlink supplying information on Ukrainian troop movements to Russia.

It's what USAID was investigating and why they were the first to be closed down - Eloon was just protecting his Russian asset status.

[hunter]

28. Starlink is a threat to the national security of any nation that uses it.

Including our own.

Furthermore, it's not economically viable without huge government subsidies.

Starlink's environmental footprint is horrendous.

Anyplace in the U.S.A. that is within a few miles of the electric grid could have high speed internet without any technical problems. Many rural people are denied high speed internet service for political reasons, not technical reasons. Bringing high speed internet to everyone on a fiber-optic network is a trivial endeavor compared to FDR's rural electrification projects.

Starlink is most useful to those toxic government and corporate entities who spy on us, and to those who destroy the natural environment in remote places, such as fossil fuel companies, mining companies, companies that cut down forests, etc.

Subsidizing Starlink is a crime against humanity and a crime against the natural environment.