Arson plot targets Ukraine’s ‘communications lifeline’ ... Poland: ‘Russia behind Starlink attack’

[Financial News] Polish authorities have arrested suspects accused of setting fire to a Starlink satellite ground station, a key part of communications support for Ukraine, and identified Russia as being behind the incident.
Foreign media, including the Associated Press, reported on the 13th (local time) that suspects accused of setting fire to a Starlink satellite communications ground station in Wola Krzysztoporska, about 40 km south of the Polish capital, Warsaw, on September 23, were arrested in Germany the previous day. In a joint operation by Polish and German investigators, a group involved in the arson and transport, including Turkish nationals, was apprehended in Nürtingen, Berlin and elsewhere in Germany. Key evidence, including footage from the scene, fingerprints and DNA, was also secured. They are expected to be extradited to Poland and charged with sabotage directed by a foreign intelligence agency.
The facility is operated by Polish state-owned telecommunications company Exatel using Elon Musk’s SpaceX communications network. Since Russia’s 2022 invasion, the Polish government has supported the purchase and operating costs of Starlink terminals essential to Ukrainian forces’ battlefield communications and drone operations. Polish authorities believe the aim of the arson was to cut off Starlink internet access in countries across Central and Eastern Europe, including Ukraine.
Tomasz Siemoniak, Poland’s coordinator of special services, who oversees the country’s security agencies, said, “There is no doubt that Russian intelligence agencies are behind this act of sabotage,” adding, “Russia is increasingly using people linked to criminal networks in the underworld.” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk also warned on social media that the incident was part of “hybrid warfare (a strategy that combines irregular tactics and cyberwarfare, among other things).”
Western intelligence agencies assess that Russia is continuing to carry out sabotage through proxies to sow unrest in European societies and weaken support for Ukraine. Indeed, in the early hours of the 10th, a warehouse in Frankfurt, Germany, used to store aid supplies for Ukraine, including medicines, was also destroyed in a deliberate arson attack.
Meanwhile, whenever Russia is accused of being behind arson attacks or sabotage targeting infrastructure in European countries, it categorically denies the allegations, calling them “baseless anti-Russian propaganda and hysteria.”


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