Other MoA event in Wola Krobowska area, Poland on Wed 23rd September 2026

A fire at a Starlink satellite station in central Poland was a deliberate "act of sabotage", a government minister has said.

Polish Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said the fire in the Masovian Voivodeship province was "deliberately designed to disable the station... disrupting internet access for various institutions, including the Ukrainian army".

He told Polish public broadcaster TVP Info an investigation was ongoing but "many indications suggest" the attack fits into a "new Russian doctrine of attack". The Kremlin has not commented.

Meanwhile, Denmark's intelligence service issued a new threat assessment saying it expects Russia to escalate hybrid warfare in the coming months.

It said an attack remained "highly unlikely" but warned of "a low but growing risk" that Russia could launch a limited military attack against Nato countries.

In recent weeks a number of European Nato members have said Russia may be preparing attacks to test their commitment to supporting Ukraine, which Moscow denies.

Earlier this month, Germany blamed Russia for an attempted drone attack on Leipzig/Halle Airport, while France has ordered a plan to protect critical infrastructure and defence industry sites.

Hybrid warfare or hybrid attacks are loose terms which tend to describe non-military methods designed to exert pressure and destabilise an adversary - for example cyberattacks, sabotage or misinformation.

Proxies are often used to carry out the attacks and Russia always denies involvement, despite growing evidence to the contrary.

The fire at the state-owned Polish satellite station broke out on Wednesday night in Wola Krobowska. It remains operational.

The deputy prime minister said it transmits internet traffic through Poland to countries including Ukraine, and uses SpaceX systems that provide connectivity via Starlink terminals.

Asked about the incident at a news conference with Bulgaria's leader on Thursday, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he disliked "labelling something as sabotage versus an accident without 100% certainty, but it looks bad".