- Elon Musk said he doesn’t plan to shut down Starlink’s terminals in Ukraine.
- “We would never do such a thing or use it as a bargaining chip,” Musk said.
- SpaceX sent thousands of Starlink terminals to Ukraine during the early days of the war.
Elon Musk said on Sunday that he will never turn off Starlink’s terminals in Ukraine.
“To be extremely clear, no matter how much I disagree with the Ukraine policy, Starlink will never turn off its terminals,” Musk wrote in an X post on Sunday.
“We would never do such a thing or use it as a bargaining chip,” Musk added.
Musk’s remarks came after Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, wrote in an X post on Sunday that his country “will be forced to look for other suppliers” of satellite internet services if SpaceX “proves to be an unreliable provider.”
Poland was spending about $50 million a year on Starlink’s services for Ukraine, Sikorski wrote.
“Be quiet, small man. You pay a tiny fraction of the cost. And there is no substitute for Starlink,” Musk replied to Sikorski on Sunday.
Sikorski’s post also drew a response from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said on Sunday that Sikorski was “just making things up.”
“No one has made any threats about cutting Ukraine off from Starlink. 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,” Rubio wrote in an X post.
Musk’s position on Ukraine
Musk was initially supportive of Ukraine when it fought back against Russia in the early days of the war.
In June 2022, Musk said SpaceX had delivered 15,000 Starlink terminals to Ukraine after Russia’s invasion began in February that year.
In 2022, Musk also challenged Russian leader Vladimir Putin to single combat over Ukraine and suggested the president could “bring his bear” to their man-on-man fight.
But Musk’s pro-Ukraine stance has shifted.
In October 2022, he posted a peace plan to end the Ukraine war on X. The plan, which called for Ukraine to recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea, was praised by the Kremlin.
During a 2024 X Spaces event with GOP senators, Musk said he thought there was “no way in hell” Putin would lose the war in Ukraine.
“This spending does not help Ukraine. Prolonging the war does not help Ukraine,” Musk said in February 2024 while calling for the US to stop funding Ukraine.
On Sunday, Musk said he was “sickened” by “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 wrote on X.
Last week, the Trump administration paused all military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine.
“The President has been clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well. We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution,” a White House official said in a written statement to Business Insider.
Musk and the State Department did not respond to requests for comment from BI.
