Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on August 27, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleUkraine is hopeful Poland will continue funding Starlink systems, vital for frontline communication, despite political hurdles.
By Max Hunder
KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine's deputy prime minister said he was confident of a solution to continue Poland's funding of 30,000 Starlink internet systems for Ukraine, after Poland said it might no longer be able to pay for them following a presidential veto.
Poland is the biggest donor of SpaceX's satellite internet devices to Ukraine. Kyiv uses tens of thousands of them across the frontline as a crucial communication tool resistant to hacking and jamming.
Mykhailo Fedorov, who is also Ukraine's digitalisation minister, told Reuters in an interview that while Ukraine also had other satellite communication systems, none could match the scale and cost of Starlink, operated by Elon Musk's rocket company.
"We are communicating with our colleagues and I'm sure that all will be well, that we will find a solution to continue supporting this project," he said.
Polish President Karol Nawrocki on Monday vetoed a bill extending state financial support provided to Ukrainian refugees and unveiled plans to limit their future access to child benefits and healthcare.
Poland's Deputy Prime Minister and Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said the vetoed legislation also provided the legal basis for providing Starlink to Ukraine.
Nawrocki's spokesperson told Reuters that the basis for paying for Starlink could still be restored if parliament adopts a bill proposed by the president by the end of next month.
Starlink systems have suffered several outages affecting military operations in Ukraine, both as a result of technical issues and deliberate decisions by Musk to restrict Ukrainian operations.
Fedorov said Ukraine was developing an "internal network" to ensure the existence of backup options in the event of a Starlink outage.
"Technical failures should not bring down the front line or any important sphere of activity. That is why we must always have options B, C, D, and so on," he said.
(Reporting by Max HunderEditing by Peter Graff)
Poland has been the biggest donor of Starlink systems to Ukraine, but there are concerns about future funding after a vetoed bill that provided financial support for Ukrainian refugees.
Starlink systems have experienced outages that affected military operations, caused by both technical issues and decisions by Elon Musk to restrict operations.
Ukraine is developing an 'internal network' to ensure backup options are available in case of Starlink outages, emphasizing the need for multiple communication options.
Poland's Deputy Prime Minister and Digital Affairs Minister is Krzysztof Gawkowski, who commented on the vetoed legislation related to Starlink funding.
Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's digitalisation minister, expressed confidence that a solution would be found to continue Poland's support for Starlink funding.
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