Poland Accuses Russian Intelligence of Sabotaging a Starlink Station
Two Turkish citizens detained in Germany face sabotage charges over the September fire at the Wola Krobowska ground station, Warsaw says.
Poland said Monday that Russian intelligence ordered the September fire that gutted a Starlink satellite ground station in central Poland, and that two Turkish citizens detained in Germany carried it out.
Special Services Minister Tomasz Siemoniak told a news conference that Warsaw has "no doubt that Russian services are behind this act of sabotage," adding that Moscow is increasingly turning to people "linked to the criminal underworld." The two Turkish citizens were detained in Germany on Monday. No further details about them or their connection to the fire were released.
Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski said the two will face charges in Poland of carrying out sabotage on the instructions of a foreign intelligence agency.
The fire broke out in September at a ground station in Wola Krobowska, about 200 miles from Poland's border with Ukraine. The flames engulfed the station's power system and backup generator. Poland said at the time that it suspected the fire was sabotage aimed at disrupting internet service, including for Ukraine's military.
Starlink has been central to Ukraine's defense since Elon Musk activated the satellite network over the country in 2022, in the first days of Russia's full-scale invasion. Poland has said it pays for Ukraine's Starlink subscription. Ukraine's military relies on tens of thousands of Starlink terminals for battlefield communications and some drone operations, and this year Musk agreed to switch off thousands of Russian "grey-market" terminals that Russian forces were using in Ukraine.
Russia has denied the accusation. Its embassy in Warsaw did not immediately reply to a request for comment, Reuters reported. Moscow has previously called accusations of sabotage baseless and the product of anti-Russian hysteria.
Officials across the European Union have warned for months that Russia is mounting sabotage, cyber and other hybrid attacks across Europe to erode support for Ukraine. Warsaw's statement is one of the most specific public attributions yet, naming Russian intelligence services behind an attack on Western infrastructure.
