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Suspected Sabotage Targets Starlink Ground Station Serving Ukraine in Poland
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A fire broke out at a Starlink ground station in Poland that provides satellite internet connectivity to parts of Central and Eastern Europe, including Ukraine, with Polish authorities investigating possible sabotage, Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said.
According to RMF, the fire occurred late on September 23 at a facility in Wola Krobowska. The owner of the property where the Starlink infrastructure is located alerted emergency services after antennas caught fire and a power generator was damaged. Firefighters subsequently extinguished the blaze.
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Together with a similar ground station near Kaunas, Lithuania, the Wola Krobowska facility provides internet access to a significant part of Central and Eastern Europe, RMF reported.
Preliminary findings indicate that unidentified individuals may have deliberately set fire to an electrical distribution panel at the site. Investigators are also considering a short circuit in the electrical system as a possible cause.
“The fire engulfed the power station and the generator; it is clear that this act of sabotage was deliberately designed to disable the station—effectively cutting off the internet connection and disrupting internet access for various institutions, including the Ukrainian military,” Gawkowski said, according to Reuters.
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The incident also highlights Ukraine’s reliance on Starlink connectivity during Russia’s full-scale invasion. Poland spends around $50 million annually to finance half of the approximately 42,000 Starlink terminals used in Ukraine.
That reliance recently became a point of contention after Poland was removed from Starlink’s European roaming zone, prompting Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski to criticize Starlink owner Elon Musk amid concerns over the potential impact on satellite communications for Ukraine’s military.
Concerns over the Starlink station fire come amid heightened scrutiny of sabotage and other hybrid threats across Europe. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed a NATO-style mechanism on September 16 to help EU countries coordinate their response to sabotage, drone incursions, and other forms of non-military aggression.
Under the proposed “counter-hybrid playbook,” any EU member state targeted by such activity could initiate emergency consultations with other members, allowing the bloc to coordinate its response, deterrence, and mitigation measures.
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