Neighbour Poland has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest backers since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Ukraine’s access to Elon Musk’s satellite internet service Starlink could be cut due to the Polish president’s veto of a refugee aid bill, a Polish deputy prime minister said, as a conflict between the government and head of state deepens and undermines the once ironclad support of its war-torn neighbour.
Poland pays for Ukraine to use Starlink, which provides crucial internet connectivity to the country and its military as they try to push back invading Russian forces.
Right-wing 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.
However, Deputy Prime Minister and Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said the vetoed legislation also provided the legal basis for providing Starlink to Ukraine.
“This is the end of Starlink internet, which Poland provides to Ukraine as it wages war,” he wrote on X.
Centrist Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk criticised the veto. But his government does not have the two-thirds majority in parliament needed to overcome the move.
“We cannot punish people for losing their job – particularly not innocent children. This is the ABC of human decency,” Labour Minister Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bak wrote on X.
Gawkowski stressed that Nawrocki’s veto jeopardised Ukraine’s use of Starlink.
“We want to continue paying for internet by satellite for Ukraine. Unfortunately, this disastrous decision by the president greatly complicates things, and we will have to inform our partners that this support will finish at the end of September,” he told the PAP news agency.
Nawrocki’s spokesperson, however, told the Reuters news agency 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.
Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, around one million refugees have settled in neighbouring Poland. Most of them are women and children.
Poland is a key supporter of Ukraine and a major transit route for Western aid, but public attitudes towards Ukrainians have hardened.
Nawrocki, a staunch nationalist, had promised to cut social welfare benefits for Ukrainians during the campaign ahead of his election victory on June 1.
“I will not change my mind, and I think that [this aid] should be limited only to Ukrainians who are committed to working in Poland,” Nawrocki, who took office this month, told reporters on Monday.
Nawrocki also said Ukrainians who do not work in Poland should not be allowed to receive free medical treatment, as they do now.
“This puts us in a situation in which Polish citizens, in their own country, are less well treated than our Ukrainian guests,” he said.
Gawkowski said that Poland spent 77 million euros ($90m) between 2022 and 2024 to buy and subscribe to Starlink systems for Ukraine.
A Ukrainian diplomatic source told the Reuters news agency that Kyiv was analysing the possible impact of the move on Ukrainians in Poland, adding they believed “their rights will be protected no less than in other EU countries”.
Ukrainian refugees are currently eligible to receive the monthly family benefit of 800 zlotys ($218) per child if their children attend Polish schools. Other EU countries, such as Germany, have also proposed cutting benefits recently.
In Poland, the president can propose bills and veto government legislation. Similarly, the government can also block the president’s proposals.
