Polish domestic intelligence and police are investigating after a fire broke out at a base station for Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite system that is crucial to providing internet coverage to central Europe and Ukraine, suspecting a Russian “hybrid warfare” sabotage attack.
A satellite station near Wola Krobowska, Masovia, central Poland suffered a fire on Wednesday night, with the local fire brigade summoned a little after 2100 local time to fight the blaze. The fire started inside the power switchboard and grew to engulf a 30-square-foot area.
Operations at the satellite internet facility were disrupted but remained broadly functional. Germany’s Die Welt states Ukrainian army internet access was “disrupted” by the fire.
Calverton, N.Y.: Some of the 40 white orb earth satellite stations that were installed in Calverton, New York, and which can communicate with Starlink satellites in space, are seen on May 14, 2025. (Photo by James Carbone/Newsday RM via Getty Images)
Given the location’s position on Poland’s register of critical national infrastructure — the government has called the base station an important junction in the regional internet data network — police investigators and officers from the national domestic intelligence agency were also rapidly dispatched to investigate the cause of the blaze, reports PolsatNews.
Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said while all potential causes, including a simple short-circuit causing a spontaneous fire, are being considered a prime concern for the government is sabotage of the strategic site. Noting the satellite station is “an internet hub that also ensures the security of the internet in Ukraine”, the politician said investigators had found “many indications” to suggest it was an act of “hybrid warfare”.
The minister said, reports ESKA news:
We’re dealing with a crucial element of critical infrastructure that provides internet access to a large part of Ukraine through SpaceX… this infrastructure enables the use of Starlinks in Ukraine. Everything points to sabotage. Services are already on site, thoroughly investigating the situation, but the modus operandi of the entire incident indicates that this is another element of hybrid warfare.
The internet is a tool that provides many elements of everyday life, including communication and banking. A lack of internet, for example, in Ukraine could deprive the Ukrainian army of support or shut down the banking system, including the use of ATMs. This also applies to Poland. Our country is also connected to the international internet network, and a communication shutdown could disrupt banking operations.
Continuing on his theory that the fire was indeed arson, and performed by or for the Russian Federation, Gawkowski said the incident was in line with “Russia’s new attack doctrine” and that “It’s not tanks or planes that will fly in here, but we will have actions that will shut down the internet, ensure there is no water in the taps, no gas, no electricity”.
The Polish Prime Minister, prominent Russia hawk Donald Tusk, said he wanted to wait for the result of the police investigation but nevertheless called the fire “strange” and said the situation “looks bad”. The minister of justice Waldemar Żurek also added: “We are aware of hybrid attacks on Poland , they are happening. This could be an act of sabotage, and we are taking that into account, so nothing can be ruled out here, no scenario. Especially since these are sensitive elements that ensure satellite communications”.
While satellite-based internet systems like Elon Musk’s SpaceX-backed Starlink have real advantages in rolling out fast data to remote or disturbed regions, it relies on its network of satellites being able to repeat the user’s data to and from a series of base stations. Made up of an array of weather-protected dishes pointing towards the heavens, these facilities connect the satellite traffic with the terrestrial backbone of the broader internet.
Some parts of the world have a great deal of redundancy, with the United States and United Kingdom, for instance, having a large number of base stations to deal with a higher volume of subscribers. Wider Europe is less well covered, with central and eastern Europe — including Ukraine — covered by just two stations, in Poland and Lithuania.
Given its speed, flexibility, and portability the Starlink system has proven a considerable boon to the Ukrainian armed forces in the course of its defensive war against the now years long Russian invasion. As well as providing data for command and control between ground units, Starlink dishes have been built directly into reconnaissance and attack drones.
At the moment, Starlink connectivity is enabled over Ukrainian-controlled Ukraine, but disabled by SpaceX over Russian-occupied areas, Belarus, and Russia itself. On Thursday, Finland’s President Alexander Stubb said he had asked Starlink to turn on internet access in Russia to allow Ukraine to use its Starlink-connected weapons to strike missile launch sites within Russia, destroying the weapons on the ground being considerably easier and cheaper than shooting them down once they are in the air.
Russian sabotage of European infrastructure, and particularly the infrastructure that helps support Ukraine, is a matter of constant concern to European leaders. Last year, European telecoms giants warned NATO of the real risk of global internet and power outages from sabotage attacks.
The companies stated: “The entire subsea cable ecosystem must be regarded as critical infrastructure… The repercussions of damage to subsea cables extend far beyond Europe, potentially affecting global internet and power infrastructure, international communications, financial transactions, and critical services worldwide” and called for data infrastructure to be hardened and better protected.