Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski on Wednesday, following the example of other country officials, threatened to reconsider Warsaw’s decision to spend 50 million USD annually on “Starlink” services.
“Hey, @elonmusk, good job, stop discriminating against Starlink users from Poland, otherwise we may reconsider the decision to pay you 50 million dollars annually for services,” the head of Polish diplomacy said on the social network “X”.
With this money, Poland finances Starlink access for Ukraine, which is fighting against Russia.
His outrage was caused by the company Starlink’s decision not to include Poland in the common European roaming zone, which covers more than 30 countries, including Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Lithuania. Users in this zone can freely carry their terminals across borders without facing international usage restrictions.
“Note: Poland is not part of the mentioned European region. Accounts registered in Poland are considered accounts intended for use only in Poland, the country of residence,” the current Starlink guidelines state.
However, Polish users traveling now will face additional requirements and fees. Starlink did not explain its decision amid the outrage.
As Politico notes, the new rules apply to new customers registering with Starlink from July 14, 2026, and will apply to existing Polish users from August 17.
Polish Minister of Digital Technologies Krzysztof Gawkowski also criticized E. Musk on Wednesday, accusing SpaceX of treating Poles as second-class customers.
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“Poland is not a second-class market. Polish customers are not second-class customers,” he complained.
Sikorski’s quarrels with Musk
Public conflicts between E. Musk and the Polish Foreign Minister on the social network “X” have continued since spring 2025 and are mostly related to Starlink and its role during the war in Ukraine.
Probably the most famous episode occurred in March 2025. At that time, E. Musk stated that Starlink is “the backbone of the Ukrainian army” and “the entire front will collapse if I turn it off.”
R. Sikorski responded by stating that Poland pays 50 million dollars per year for terminals for Ukraine and warned: “If SpaceX proves to be an unreliable supplier, we will be forced to look for others.” The billionaire’s reaction was sharp: “Shut up, man. You only pay a small part of the costs. And there is no alternative to Starlink.”
In January this year, a conflict flared up again when R. Sikorski addressed E. Musk saying: “Hey, champ, why don’t you stop the Russians from using Starlink when they can direct fire at Ukrainian cities? Profiting from war crimes could damage your brand.”
E. Musk shot back at him: “This drooling fool doesn’t even realize that Starlink is the basis of Ukraine’s military communications.”
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