Secretary of State Marco Rubio took Elon Musk’s side in an online fight with a Polish diplomat over Starlink’s role in the Russia-Ukraine war.
The exchanges were notable coming days after Rubio and the tech mogul reportedly clashed over Musk’s actions with the Department of Government Efficiency during a Trump Cabinet meeting at the end of last week.
Starlink, one of Musk’s companies, has been an incredibly important tool for Ukraine’s defense against Russia in the war. Musk first provided the service to Kyiv in early 2022 to help the country’s communications systems.
At one point in a lengthy discussion, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Radoslaw Sikorski suggested that Musk was threatening to cut Ukraine off from Startlink.
He said Ukraine’s Starlink system is paid for by the Polish Digitization Ministry for about $50 million a 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,” he said.
“Just making things up. No one has made any threats about cutting Ukraine off from Starlink,” Rubio then tweeted, joining the discussion.
Sikorski then thanked Rubio for his comments.
“Thank you, Marco, for confirming that the brave soldiers of Ukraine can count on the vital internet service provided jointly by [the United States and Poland,” he wrote.
Sikorski said with the help of the United States and Europe, a just peace could be found in Ukraine.
President Trump has shaken Poland and other countries in Europe with start criticism of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump also paused U.S. aid to Ukraine and has suggested Kyiv is more of an impediment to peace than Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of its smaller neighbor in 2022.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) began the thread of posts that led to the Rubio-Sikorski exchange earlier over the weekend, calling for “not another penny” to be sent to Ukraine. Musk replied that there should be sanction put on “the top 10 Ukrainian oligarchs” and the war will stop “immediately.”
“That is the key to the puzzle,” he said.
Another user replied that he agrees “anyone engaging in corruption” should be sanctioned, but he slammed Musk for the recent belief that Russia is not an aggressor in this conflict and the Trump administration’s efforts to work with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“You got to stop pretending that Putin isn’t the aggressor. Ukraine is the victim. Knock it off with the nonsense. You seem focused on only criticizing Ukraine but not Putin for some reason,” the user, Adam Lowisz, said in his post.
Musk replied saying he “literally challenged” Putin to physical combat over Ukraine and his Starlink system.
“Their entire front line would collapse if I turned it off. What I am sickened by is years of slaughter in a stalemate that Ukraine will inevitably lose. Anyone who really cares, really thinks and really understands wants the meat grinder to stop,” Musk said.
