By Cecilia Odey
U.S. billionaire, Elon Musk has emphasised the importance of his Starlink satellite system for Ukrainian troops fighting Russia.
The Starlink system is the backbone of the Ukrainian army.
Their entire front line will collapse if I turned it off, Musk, a close adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, wrote on X on Sunday.
With the war in mind, Musk wrote that he was tired of years of “slaughter’’ and said that Ukraine would lose in the end anyway.
It is, therefore, necessary to make peace immediately.”
Musk later posted to clarify that Starlink would never turn off its terminals.
“To be extremely clear, no matter how much I disagree with the Ukraine policy, Starlink will never turn off its terminals.
“I am simply stating that, without Starlink, the Ukrainian lines would collapse, as the Russians can jam all other communications.
“We will never do such a thing or use it as a bargaining chip,’’ he wrote.
Sikorski gets dressing down
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski responded to Musk’s original post on X and wrote that his government would cover Starlink costs for Ukraine to the tune of 50 million dollars a year.
“If SpaceX proves to be an unreliable provider we will be forced to look for other suppliers,’’ he added.
Sikorski’s comments sparked an angry reaction from Musk.
The billionaire retorted: “be quiet, small man. You pay a tiny fraction of the cost.’’
There was no substitute for Starlink, Musk added.
Rubio also weighed in U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio attacked Sikorski, charging in his own X-post that the Polish foreign minister 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 will have lost this war long ago and Russians will be on the border with Poland right now,’’ the top U.S. diplomat added.
New tone out of Trump’s Washington
The U.S. government under Trump has made a radical U-turn in its policy on Ukraine, most recently ending support for Kiev altogether at least for the time being.
The White House said that the reason for this was to force Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to peace negotiations.
Trump had previously blamed Zelensky for the war ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin and accused him of not wanting to end the conflict.
Trump and his government officials have also recently adopted an unusually harsh tone towards other European countries, repeatedly snubbing their European partners. (dpa/NAN)
