'Say thank you' Rubio tells Poland amid Ukraine Starlink spat

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Poland's foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski of "making things up" and suggested on Sunday he was ungrateful, in a strong rebuke after Sikorski said Ukraine may need an alternative to the Starlink satellite service, Report informs via Reuters.

Poland pays for Kyiv to use the services of Elon Musk's Starlink, which provides crucial internet connectivity to Ukraine and its military.

Musk, a high-profile figure in the administration of US President Donald Trump, said in a post on his X social media platform early on Sunday that Ukraine's "entire front line would collapse if I turned it (Starlink) off."

In response, Sikorski wrote on X: "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."

In a series of posts on X on the subject, that lasted through the day, Musk said later he would not turn off Starlink in Ukraine.

"To be extremely clear, no matter how much I disagree with the Ukraine policy, Starlink will never turn off its terminals ... We would never do such a thing or use it as a bargaining chip."