It started, like so many political firestorms these days, with a post on Twitter/X. Elon Musk claimed that without his Starlink satellite network, Ukraine’s war effort would collapse.
Radosław Sikorski, Poland’s foreign minister, fired back, reminding Musk that Poland was paying for Ukraine’s Starlink access and suggesting it could just as easily fund an alternative.
That was all it took. “Shut up, small man,” Musk fired back shot back, dismissing Poland’s contribution as insignificant. Marco Rubio, Trump’s Secretary of State, jumped in, telling Sikorski to be grateful that Musk had “saved Ukraine.”
Poland’s foreign minister received no support, quite the opposite from his Polish political opponents.
Within hours, the country’s two dominant political camps had lined up on opposite sides, turning a row about satellite networks into debate on how Poland should navigate its relationship with the US under Trump.
Trump’s administration has already cut off military aid to Ukraine, hinted that NATO commitments aren’t set in stone, and is warning European allies to spend more on defense or risk losing US support altogether. For Poland, a country that has spent decades assuming America would always have its back, that’s a serious problem.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s coalition government immediately backed its foreign minister, arguing that Poland can’t afford to be treated like a doormat, not by the US and certainly not by a tech billionaire who happens to be close to Trump.
Sikorski’s allies argued his response was the right move, a way to remind Washington that Poland is an active player in European security, not just a dependent ally waiting for instructions.
Tusk himself didn’t hold back. When opposition PiS politicians started mocking Sikorski and demanding his resignation, the prime minister fired back, accusing them of “losing the last shred of national dignity.”
“PiS is attacking the foreign minister for calmly laying out Poland’s position to foreign politicians. They’re making a fool of themselves,” Tusk said. “Political and moral bankrupts.”
Sławomir Dębski, former head of the Polish Institute of International Affairs, summed up the absurdity of Poland being told to “thank” the US for Starlink when Poland was paying for it. “If that’s the case,” he said. “Maybe Marco Rubio should thank us for [the American War of Independence officers] Tadeusz Kościuszko and Kazimierz Pułaski, since without them, the United States wouldn’t even exist.”
On the other side, PiS used the dispute to paint the government as reckless and anti-American. Their message was that Sikorski had picked a pointless fight with Musk and Rubio, jeopardizing Poland’s relationship with the US.
The PiS-supported candidate in May’s presidential election, Karol Nawrocki, framed the entire Tusk administration as dangerous for Poland’s foreign policy.
“Donald Tusk’s government is leading an anti-American rebellion in the European Union,” Nawrocki said. “I will be the president who restores the strength of the Polish-American alliance. The United States is our main security partner.”
Others in PiS went even further. Dominik Tarczyński called for Sikorski’s resignation, while former deputy foreign minister Arkadiusz Mularczyk publicly apologized to Musk on behalf of Poland. PiS MP Paweł Jabłoński joined in, saying that “for the good of Polish diplomacy, someone should take Sikorski’s Twitter away from him.”
None of which will come as much surprise to Poles. Nawrocki and PiS have developed warm relations with the American right. Key PiS figures, including former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, have flown to Washington for Republican events and built ties with Trump’s inner circle. President Andrzej Duda recently boasted that he was the first European leader to meet Trump after his inauguration.
But PiS’s embrace of Trump is becoming increasingly awkward. The party has long championed the US as Poland’s most important ally, but Trump’s second term is making that stance harder to defend. That was not helped when Trump kept Duda waiting 90 minutes after he had flown across the Atlantic and then spared him only a few minutes for a meeting.
Prof. Przemysław Sadura, a sociologist and political analyst, points out that Trump’s policies, if followed through, could threaten the very survival of NATO in its current form. “PiS has always prioritized its relationship with the US over the EU. But now, Trump’s policies are directly undermining Poland’s security, and PiS hasn’t figured out how to react yet.”
Meanwhile, Tusk’s government is leaning into the argument that Poland must prepare for a future where the US is no longer a reliable partner. Tusk argues that Poland should take an active role in shaping EU security policy rather than simply hoping for continued American support. Duda, on March 13, called for the stationing of US nuclear weapons in Poland, something no administration has yet been willing to consider.
And that’s what makes this debate over Sikorski’s comments so much bigger than an online spat. At its core, it’s a fight over where Poland’s best source of security will come from.
Stuart Dowell is a Warsaw-based journalist covering Polish politics, culture, and history. His writing has been featured in both Polish and UK media.
Europe’s Edge is CEPA’s online journal covering critical topics on the foreign policy docket across Europe and North America. All opinions expressed on Europe’s Edge are those of the author alone and may not represent those of the institutions they represent or the Center for European Policy Analysis. CEPA maintains a strict intellectual independence policy across all its projects and publications.
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