 "Will Ukraine’s front line collapse if Starlink is ‘turned off’ as Elon Musk claims?")
The United States under Donald Trump is pushing against its allies and Europe is learning this the hard way. After cancelling all US military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine, on Sunday (March 9), a new debate opened up over the use of Elon Musk’s Starlink and its significance in the ongoing war against Russia.
Sunday saw tech billionaire and ‘First Buddy’ Elon Musk along with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio trading barbs with Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski on X over the use of Musk’s Starlink internet service in Ukraine.
The very public spat has shone a light on the significance of Starlink in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, which has entered its fourth year. We bring you everything about the situation — from the X war to the importance of Starlink.
Musk’s X war with Poland over Starlink
It all began on Sunday when Elon Musk warned that the entire frontline of Kyiv’s defence system would collapse if he “turned off” his Starlink satellite internet system. Musk wrote on his platform, X, “My Starlink system is the backbone of the Ukrainian army. Their entire front line would collapse if I turned it off.”
Notably, Musk’s comments come at a time when US-Ukraine ties have deteriorated to its lowest point. Trump has suspended all US military aid to the war-torn country and even paused intelligence sharing with it after his showdown with Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Oval Office in the White House. Amid that, Musk had referred to the Ukrainian leader as “evil” for pushing what he called a “forever war” with Russia.
However, soon after Musk posted his Starlink comment, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski responded, saying that Poland was paying for the service. “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.”
This led US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to chime in, writing that the Polish foreign minister was “just making things up”.
“No one has made any threats about cutting Ukraine off from Starlink,” wrote Rubio, adding, “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.”
Musk later responded to Sikorski’s post calling him a “small man”.
Starlinks for Ukraine are paid for by the Polish Digitization Ministry at the cost of about $50 million per year.
— Radosław Sikorski 🇵🇱🇪🇺 (@sikorskiradek) March 9, 2025
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. https://t.co/WaJWCklgPE
Following the barbs traded online, Musk vowed that Starlink would not be “turned off”.
“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.”
But despite Musk’s assurances, there’s been past buzz that Trump’s administration is using Starlink as a bargaining tool to get Kyiv to sign the minerals deal with Washington. Reuters reported last month that Ukraine was told it faced imminent shutoff of the service if it did not reach a deal on critical minerals.
Starlink, explained
The online spat between Musk and the Polish minister has once again brought Starlink to the fore. However, what exactly is it?
Owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Starlink is a satellite constellation that comprises thousands of small satellites in low-Earth orbit. SpaceX first began sending them into space in 2019 and currently, there are more than 3,000 of these satellites that send internet signals to designated ground receivers.
Furthermore, Starlink doesn’t require any ground infrastructure, unlike other traditional internet providers. One simply needs to have a small satellite dish or a receiver device to access high-speed internet, much like satellite TV.
Starlink’s importance in Ukraine war
Since February 2022, when Ukraine Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov urged Musk to enable Starlink for the country, the service has been active and beaming the internet to the country. It has played a vital role in keeping Ukraine’s military and citizens online as the war continues to rage and Russia targets Ukraine’s telecommunications and electricity infrastructure.
In the months since its activation, Starlink has become critical to the war effort, helping troops to communicate with each other on the battlefield and even enabling drones and weapons systems to stay operational.
According to officials, there are an estimated 42,000 Starlink terminals in Ukraine, providing the military, the government and civilians with internet. The terminals help soldiers stay updated in group chats to running apps that help compute targeting information for howitzer batteries. Soldiers often use the same Starlink-connected devices to communicate with loved ones back home or abroad and to upload battlefield videos onto social media, reports the Washington Post.
Starlink has also made drone warfare much simpler. As Franz-Stefan Gady, of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told The Economist, “Ukrainian military operations are hugely dependent on having access to the internet. So Starlink is a most critical capability.”
A Ukrainian soldier put it even more starkly. “Starlink is our oxygen,” he told The Economist. Were it to disappear “Our army would collapse into chaos.”
Another air reconnaissance soldier held similar views, telling the Washington Post that Starlink offered Ukraine a significant advantage over Russian capabilities. He added that losing Starlink would force Ukraine to fall back on more traditional communications such as radio or other inferior alternatives.
What makes Starlink even more significant to Ukraine’s war efforts is that Russia hasn’t found a way to block its signals. Furthermore, Russia can’t directly attack the Starlink satellites as this would mean “a severe escalation”.
Alternatives to Starlink
While Musk has vowed that Ukraine’s access to Starlink won’t be affected, Ukraine is looking to find alternatives to Starlink. As per a Bloomberg report, Ukraine is considering moving to European satellite providers and setting up a mesh of antennas, modems and cables on the ground.
In fact, French satellite company Eutelsat Communications SA has put itself forward as the most viable alternative.
However, Ukraine’s move to shift from Starlink could prove problematic. Eutelsat’s CEO Eva Berneke told Bloomberg TV that her company would need “a couple of months” and financial help to provide 40,000 terminals to Ukraine to replace Starlink in the country.
Meanwhile, Kyiv can’t afford any delay or lag in the rollout at a time when it is already facing losses, especially in Kursk.
Experts also note that Eutelsat is 10-times smaller than Starlink and the French company’s satellites sit at a higher altitude than Elon Musk’s Starlink. “The constellation will have a lower capacity, limiting the actions Ukraine can undertake,” CCS Insight analyst Joe Gardiner was quoted as telling Bloomberg.
Serhiy Beskrestnov, a military and radio technology blogger, in the same report also said that losing Starlink would be “very painful”. However, he noted that it wouldn’t be “catastrophic”.
With inputs from agencies
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