Sikorski Tells Musk: Stop Discriminating Against Polish Starlink Users

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski has warned Elon Musk to halt the alleged discrimination against Polish Starlink users or face a review of state funding.

Gawkowski Demands Equal Rules From SpaceX

On Wednesday, August 12, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Affairs Krzysztof Gawkowski announced that starting August 17, Polish users of Starlink Roam would face worse service conditions than clients from other European countries. He added that he asked SpaceX to urgently restore equal rules.

If Musk wants to operate in Poland, use the Polish market, and earn money from Polish clients, he must treat them fairly and on equal terms, Gawkowski emphasized in a post on the X platform.

Sikorski Threatens to Rethink Payments to Musk

The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also addressed the announced changes regarding Starlink usage and turned directly to Elon Musk. Hey, Elon Musk, big man, stop discriminating against Polish users of Starlink, or else we might rethink paying you 50 million dollars a year for your services, Sikorski wrote on the X platform.

SpaceX is changing the rules for using Starlinks for Poland.

New Restrictions on Foreign Travel for Polish Users

Announcements regarding changes to Starlink usage rules indicate that Poland was not included among European countries treated as a common area where foreign tariffs do not apply. The change noted that Poland is not included in the above region of Europe and that accounts registered in Poland are treated as intended exclusively for use in Poland.

This means a change in conditions for Polish users during foreign trips. Poles with the Roam Unlimited package will be able to use the internet abroad for 30 days within a single journey. After a month, returning to Poland is necessary to reset the 30-day period, switch to a more expensive package, or change the registration country.

Past Controversies Between Polish Officials and SpaceX

This is not the first controversy that has arisen between the Polish authorities and SpaceX, whose largest owner is the American billionaire Elon Musk.

In March 2025, a public dispute occurred between Musk and the head of Polish diplomacy, Radosław Sikorski. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also joined the discussion, which took place on the X service, which also belongs to Musk.

Disputes Over Ukrainian Starlink Terminals

In February 2025, Reuters reported that US administration representatives threatened Ukraine with immediate disconnection from Starlinks if Kyiv did not agree to Washington’s terms regarding a then-negotiated rare earths mining agreement.

Musk later commented that if he deprives the Ukrainian army of access to the Starlink system, the entire front in Ukraine will collapse. Sikorski retorted that, apart from the ethics of threatening a victim of aggression, if SpaceX turns out to be an unreliable provider, we will be forced to look for other providers. He added that Poland spends 50 million dollars a year to maintain Starlinks for Ukraine.

Exchange of Insults on Social Media

The billionaire responded to Sikorski, telling him to be quiet, calling him a little man, and claiming that Poland bears a small fraction of the cost of Starlinks. Later, he also called the Polish minister a Soros puppet. At the same time, however, he stated that Starlink would not cut Ukraine off from its terminals.

50 thousand Starlink terminals in Ukraine.

US Response and the Scale of Starlink in Ukraine

The head of Polish diplomacy’s post was also reacted to by his American counterpart. Rubio commented that no one threatened to block Ukraine’s access to the system. He also accused Sikorski of making things up and stated he should say thank you because, without Starlinks, Ukraine would have lost the war long ago, and the Russians would be at the Polish border.

Access to the internet via portable Starlink terminals is provided by a constellation of several thousand satellites. It is the largest system of this type in the world. Since the beginning of Ukraine’s defensive war against Russia in February 2022, Ukraine has used Starlinks for both military and civilian purposes. The system plays an important role in Ukrainian communications, and its importance has been repeatedly emphasized by Ukrainian authorities, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Ukraine has 50 thousand Starlink terminals, and we are developing this system with the help of foreign partners, of which the largest number, 29.5 thousand, was donated by Poland, reported the then Ukrainian Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov in April 2025. As Polish politicians noted, Warsaw also finances the ongoing maintenance of these systems. Other donors of Starlinks to Ukraine include the USA and Great Britain.