Ukraine may lose access to Elon Musk’s Starlink internet system after Polish President Karol Nawrocki blocked an aid bill aiming to extend support for Ukrainian refugees in Poland on August 25, Deputy Prime Minister and Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said. 

Poland currently covers the cost of Starlink services, which provide essential communications for Ukraine’s military and civilians during the war with Russia. Warsaw has paid over PLN300mn (€70mn) to secure Kyiv’s access to Starlink until the end of 2024.

Nawrocki vetoed legislation that would have extended state support for Ukrainians living in Poland beyond the current cutoff date of September 30. The president, in office only since August 6, also outlined plans to limit Ukrainians’ future entitlement to child allowances and healthcare, which, he said, the vetoed bill extended at the expense of Poles.

Gawkowski said the rejected bill also contained the legal basis for financing Starlink. “This is the end of Starlink internet,” Gawkowski wrote on X. A spokesperson for his ministry said payments could not continue after October 1 without new legislation.

Nawrocki said the Starlink arrangement could be restored if parliament adopts a bill he proposed by the end of September. The current majority in the parliament is, however, opposed to the president, considering his vetoes a way to undermine the Donald Tusk government before the next general election in 2027.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s digital affairs ministry told public broadcaster Suspilne that discussions with Poland on Starlink funding were already underway, Reuters reported.

Poland has been one of Kyiv’s strongest allies since Russia’s 2022 invasion. While both the Tusk government and Nawrocki support Ukraine’s defence, they have also fomented a shift in public sentiment amid the costs of hosting some 1.5mn refugees. 

Economic reports say, however, that Poland, grappling with labour shortage, has gained much more thanks to Ukrainians than it has spent on them.

During his election campaign Nawrocki pledged to put “Poles first” and restrict rights for foreigners. Ukrainian families are currently eligible for PLN800 (€187) per child if their children attend Polish schools.

“I believe that child benefit should only be granted to those Ukrainians who make the effort to work in Poland, the same with healthcare,” Nawrocki told a press briefing.

Nawrocki on August 25 also announced plans to tighten criminal law by banning the promotion of Ukrainian national hero Stepan Bandera and his insurgent army, equating their symbols with those of Nazism and communism. 

Publicly promoting Nazi, fascist or communist ideas is punishable in Poland by up to three years in prison.

“I believe this bill should clearly address Bandera and equate the Bandera symbol in the criminal code with symbols corresponding to German National Socialism, commonly known as Nazism, and Soviet communism,” Nawrocki said.

Many Ukrainians honour Bandera as part of their independence struggle, while in Poland he is associated with massacres of civilians during World War 2.

A Ukrainian diplomatic source warned that “any politicised decisions to equate Ukrainian symbols with Nazi and communist symbols could provoke negative sentiments in Ukrainian society and require a response from the Ukrainian side,” according to Reuters.