Polish president's office denies his veto will deprive Ukraine of Starlink

Zbigniew Bogucki, head of Polish President Karol Nawrocki’s office, has argued that the presidential veto of a law on support for Ukrainians would not deprive Ukraine of Starlink internet funded by Poland.

The day before, Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said that by vetoing the law on aid for Ukrainians, Nawrocki had ensured "the end of Starlink internet that Poland is providing to war-torn Ukraine".

Bogucki denied this and accused Gawkowski of playing along with Russian disinformation. He stated that Poland would continue to pay for Starlink for Ukraine, provided that parliament approves the president’s bill instead of the vetoed one. 

"President Nawrocki’s veto would not switch off Starlink internet for Ukraine because the costs of this connection are financed under the provisions of the current law, and the bill submitted by the president of Poland to the Sejm [Polish parliament] preserves this arrangement. It is enough to consider this presidential initiative swiftly in the Polish parliament in September," Bogucki wrote on X. 

He added that the situation is the same regarding support for storing Ukrainian administration data in a secure location.

On 25 August, Nawrocki vetoed a bill on assistance to Ukrainians and announced he would propose his own, which would set fair conditions for Poles. 

Nawrocki said that "Poles in their own country should be on at least an equal footing with our guests from Ukraine.". 

In March, the Polish government said Poland had spent nearly US$83 million on Starlink for Ukraine during the full-scale war.