Musk calls Sikorski drooling imbecile after call to stop russia's use of Starlink

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has publicly appealed to SpaceX founder Elon Musk to stop russia's use of the Starlink satellite system to attack Ukraine. In response, the American billionaire sharply insulted the Polish diplomat.

Sikorski wrote on the social network X that russian troops are using Starlink to control strike drones, and shared a report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). According to analysts, the occupiers are increasingly equipping BM-35 drones with satellite communications, which allows them to increase their flight range to 500 kilometers. In this case, the zone of defeat covers most of Ukraine, as well as Moldova and parts of Poland, Romania and Lithuania.

"Elon Musk, why don't you stop the russians from using Starlink to attack Ukrainian cities?" wrote Sikorski, warning that profiting from war crimes "could damage the brand."

In the comments to this post, Musk responded sharply and insultingly. He called the head of the Polish Foreign Ministry a "drooling imbecile" and said that he allegedly did not realize the role of Starlink in the war.

"This drooling imbecile doesn't even realize that Starlink is the backbone of Ukraine military communications," Musk wrote.

This is not the first time that Sikorski and Musk have had a dispute over Starlink. In March 2025, Musk stated that by giving Ukraine access to the system, he had "challenged" vladimir putin, but later began to speak publicly about the need to end the war.

Against the backdrop of a new discussion, Sikorski recalled that it was Poland that was paying for the operation of Starlink terminals for Ukraine, and suggested that Warsaw might be looking for alternative suppliers. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio responded by saying that "no one threatened" to disconnect Ukraine from Starlink, and called the Polish minister's words a fabrication.

Musk also responded to Warsaw's warnings, saying: "Hush, little man. You're paying a small part of the cost. And there's no substitute for Starlink." At the same time, he assured that the system would never be turned off for Ukraine — "no matter how much I disagree with the policy regarding it."

Meanwhile, Ukrainian experts are reporting new threats. Advisor to the Minister of Digital Transformation Serhii (Flesh) Beskrestnov said that during a drone attack near Kropyvnytskyi on January 24, russian troops probably used Shaheds controlled via Starlink for the first time.

OSINT analysts found out how Starlink is massively reaching russians in occupied territories

Molfar analysts, together with experts from the Cyberwar Research Institute, have established that Starlink satellite terminals are operating in the temporarily occupied territories of the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk Regions, which is confirmed by the official service coverage map.

Russian online stores openly advertise Starlink for the war against Ukraine, and the terminals are sold through eBay and intermediaries in the UAE, Central Asian and African countries. According to the WSJ, it is through these routes that Starlink also reaches combat zones in other countries.

OSINT analysts have discovered dozens of stores in the russian federation selling Starlink "for the SVO", with guarantees and hundreds of terminals available. At the same time, an investigation into SpaceX has been launched in the US - congressmen are checking whether the company has done enough to prevent russia from using Starlink in the war against Ukraine.