New York
CNN Business
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Elon Musk drew backlash Monday from Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, for his unsolicited advice on how to achieve “peace” amid Russia’s ongoing occupation of the country.
In a Twitter poll, Musk suggested a path to “Ukraine-Russia peace” that included redoing elections “under UN supervision” in regions of the country recently illegally annexed by Russia. The land grab, covering nearly a fifth of Ukraine, followed referendums that have been widely dismissed as “fraud” by much of the world.
The billionaire CEO of Tesla also suggested making Crimea, a region Russia invaded and annexed from Ukraine in 2014, “formally part of Russia.” He added in the highlights: “Water supply to Crimea is secured” and “Ukraine remains neutral”.
Ukraine and much of the world reject any implication of Russian sovereignty over the regions it has occupied, and Ukraine has vowed to take back its land.
“It started in Crimea and will end in Crimea, and this will be an effective revival of the international legal order,” Zelensky said at the Crimean Platform summit in August. Zelensky has repeatedly asserted that Ukraine will not cede any of its territory to Russia.
Most respondents on Twitter voted “No” in response to Musk’s survey. In a sequel I tweetMusk appears to have blamed these results on a “bot attack”.
Musk himself and one of his companies, SpaceX, became involved early in the war in Ukraine, as SpaceX sent Starlink Internet terminals, which can be operated from anywhere with power and a clear view of the sky, to the war-torn country .
But his latest thoughts were not well received by Ukrainian officials, after a months-long war that has left a trail of untold destruction in the region.
“F-off is my very diplomatic answer to you,” wrote Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany Andriy Melnyk. answer on Musk’s Twitter link.
Zelensky started one His Twitter poll, asking his followers, “Which @elonmusk do you like best?” Options: “The one who supports Ukraine” and “The one who supports Russia” (The former had collected more than 80% of the vote as of Monday afternoon.)
Kyiv Post, a Ukrainian news outlet, as well he answered in Musk’s survey, referring to his native South Africa. “Elon, you’re a cool guy and thanks for Starlink, but it would be really cool if you voted on things you know. We do not vote for apartheid and Nelson Mandela,” the publication wrote.
Russian officials, in turn, welcomed Musk’s tweets. Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council and a former Russian president and prime minister, posted on Twitter Musk “hello” and predicted that Musk’s next tweet will say that “Ukraine is an artificial state”.
Musk continued to tweet his initial defenses on Twitter, suggesting there was little chance of victory for Ukraine, which has recently begun rapidly retaking territory in its northeast, including the strategically important Lyman shipping hub. .
Musk’s foreign policy comment came a day after Tesla reported lower-than-expected third-quarter shipment and production numbers and days after the car company unveiled a lean humanoid robot. It also comes as his legal battle with Twitter heats up over his attempt to back out of a proposed $44 billion deal to buy the company.
