American tech billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk sparked public ire from Ukraine’s top officials after he claimed to know the most likely outcome of Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine.
Billionaire Elon Musk shared on Twitter his ideas on how to end the war in Ukraine, a proposal to which several Ukrainian representatives, including its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, soon reacted with outrage.
Musk asked his followers a survey about a possible peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia based on four principles:
- Repeat elections in the annexed regions under UN supervision. Russia leaves if that is the will of the people.
- Crimea is formally part of Russia, as it has been since 1783 (until Khrushchev’s mistake).
- Water supply to Crimea secured.
- Ukraine remains neutral.
Ukraine-Russia Peace:
– Redo elections of annexed regions under UN supervision. Russia leaves if that is will of the people.
– Crimea formally part of Russia, as it has been since 1783 (until Khrushchev’s mistake).
– Water supply to Crimea assured.
– Ukraine remains neutral.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 3, 2022
According to Musk, that will most likely be the end result of the conflict and the question will be how many people die before that happens.
The response was immediate, mainly from supporters of Ukraine, including President Volodymyr Zelensky himself.
Among the most acidic responses was that of Ukraine’s outgoing ambassador to Germany, Andrij Melnyk “Fuck is my very diplomatic response… The only result is that now no Ukrainian will NEVER buy your tesla shit. So good luck to you.”
Ukrainian President Zelensky responded with a Twitter poll of his own.
″Which Elon Musk do you like the most? Zelensky asked, giving two options for answers: “One who supports Ukraine” or “One who supports Russia.”
Which @elonmusk do you like more?
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) October 3, 2022
Ukraine’s sharp responses were all the more remarkable because Musk has earned the status of a quasi-folk hero in Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict.
Musk’s Starlink satellite communication system has enabled Ukrainians and the Ukrainian military to bypass the internet outages that have plagued the country.
In another slightly more diplomatic response, there was the Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, who without directly mentioning the businessman said that “those who propose that Ukraine give up its people and its lands-presumably so as not to hurt Putin’s ego or to save Ukraine from suffering – must stop using the word ‘peace’ as a euphemism for ‘allowing the Russians to murder and rape thousands more innocent Ukrainians and take more land for themselves’.