6 Killed in Kharkiv as Poland Calls Starlink Fire Sabotage

A fire that broke out Wednesday night at a state-owned Starlink satellite station in central Poland was a deliberate act of sabotage, Polish Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said Thursday, according to BBC News. The station, located in Wola Krobowska in the Masovian Voivodeship province, carries internet traffic through Poland to Ukraine and uses SpaceX systems that provide Starlink connectivity.

What happened at the Poland Starlink station?

The fire hit the facility overnight Wednesday. Poland's government says the station remains operational despite the damage. Gawkowski told public broadcaster TVP Info the blaze was "deliberately designed to disable the station... disrupting internet access for various institutions, including the Ukrainian army."

Why does Poland call the fire sabotage?

Gawkowski said an investigation is ongoing but that "many indications suggest" the fire fits a "new Russian doctrine of attack," the BBC reported. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was more careful. Asked about the incident at a news conference with Bulgaria's leader Thursday, Tusk said he disliked "labelling something as sabotage versus an accident without 100% certainty, but it looks bad." The Kremlin has not commented on the fire.

"Deliberately designed to disable the station... disrupting internet access for various institutions, including the Ukrainian army." — Krzysztof Gawkowski, Polish Deputy Prime Minister

On Wednesday, Poland separately reported that a Russian military helicopter briefly entered its airspace, prompting Polish fighter jets to scramble, according to the BBC.

What did Denmark's intelligence service say about Russia?

Denmark's intelligence service issued a new threat assessment Thursday saying it expects Russia to step up hybrid warfare against European targets in the coming months. The agency said a direct military attack on Denmark remains "highly unlikely" but warned of "a low but growing risk" that Russia could launch a limited military strike against a NATO country, the BBC reported.

Hybrid warfare is a loose term for non-military tactics meant to pressure or destabilize a rival country, including cyberattacks, sabotage and disinformation. Such operations are often carried out through proxies, and Russia routinely denies involvement despite mounting evidence, according to the BBC.

What other incidents raise concern in Europe?

Several NATO members have said in recent weeks that Russia may be probing their resolve to keep backing Ukraine, a claim Moscow denies. Germany blamed Russia earlier this month for an attempted drone attack on Leipzig/Halle Airport. France has ordered a plan to protect critical infrastructure and defense industry sites, the BBC reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said Moscow has no plans to attack NATO states. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said this month it was Europe talking about preparing for war, adding: "If Europe attacks Russia, it will be a completely different war [from that in Ukraine], and it will be very short," according to the BBC.

What happened overnight in Kharkiv?

Kharkiv and Kyiv saw some of the worst Russian attacks of the war overnight into Thursday, Ukraine's state emergency services said. A Russian strike on a farm in the village of Stara Hnylytsia in the Kharkiv region killed six people and injured twelve others, the agency reported. The head of the Kharkiv region said four of the dead were women who had been sorting vegetables.

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory, including the Crimean peninsula it annexed in 2014, according to the BBC.

Map Tabs is A coming-soon tabbed map for iPhone. Not downloadable yet.