The US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that "no one has threatened to disconnect Ukraine" from the Starlink satellite network, which helps the Ukrainian military fight Russian occupiers.
“And say thank you, because without Starlink, Ukraine would have lost this war a long time ago and the Russians would now be on the border with Poland,” Rubio responded to a post by Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski.
The latter wrote that Starlink for Ukraine is paid for by the Polish Ministry of Digitalization, and it costs almost $50 million per year.
"If SpaceX turns out to be an unreliable supplier, we will be forced to look for other suppliers," he stressed.
In late February, Reuters reported that the US was threatening to shut down Starlink if Kyiv did not sign a mineral rights deal. This is critical because Ukraine has been using Starlink for communications on the front lines and at infrastructure facilities since the start of the full-scale invasion.
A few days later, the US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky argued in the White House, and the mineral agreement was not signed. Already on March 4, the US president ordered the suspension of the US military aid to Kyiv, including that which was on its way. The aid would allegedly be on hold until Ukrainian representatives demonstrated a “good faith commitment to peace”.
Due to the tense relations between the US and Ukraine, European allies have begun to think about alternatives to Starlink. Four major satellite operators from Europe are already in talks with governments and EU institutions about a backup connection for Ukraine.
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