Elon Musk Slammed Over Ukraine Tweets

Tom Jowitt,
Image credit: Tesla

Tesla CEO widely criticised after he tweeted his thoughts about how Ukraine should appease Russia for its invasion of that sovereign nation

Tesla CEO Elon Musk faced a sharp backlash on Monday after he shared his thoughts on how to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Musk sparked a backlash from Ukrainian officials and many people, with his unsolicited ‘peace’ plan that touted terms far more amenable to Russia, than Ukraine and the West.

Even Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky took time out from overseeing the fight against Russia, to respond to Musk unsolicited opinions about the war.

In this image from video provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office and posted on Facebook early Tuesday, March 15, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks in Kyiv, Ukraine. (credit AP)

Musk polls

Musk on Monday posted a number of polls on Twitter about how Ukraine and Russia can reach a peace settlement.

Musk noted that Crimea had been (emphasis on had) been part of Russia since 1783, and then he proposed that annexed regions should be placed under UN control, with Russia withdrawing if it was the will of the people (completely ignoring that Russia conducted sham referendums, often at times at the barrel of a gun).

It should be remembered that Crimea has been part of Ukraine since 1954, and is still internationally recognised as Ukrainian territory that is illegally occupied by the Russian Federation since 2014.

Sixty percent of people voted no in Musk’s first poll.

Musk then doubled down when he posted a new poll, asking the people who live in the Donbas & Crimea should decide whether they’re part of Russia or Ukraine. 58 percent supported this idea, but it again ignores the fact that these regions where part of Ukraine, and it is up to Ukraine’s government to decide if independence should be granted.

Musk then went to tweet that Russia is doing “partial mobilisation, and said because Russia had three times the population of Ukraine, victory for Ukraine was unlikely. “If you care about the people of Ukraine, seek peace,” he tweeted.

Musk backlash

Musk faced an intense backlash and outrage over his comments on his Twitter feed, with one official pointing out that Musk’s proposals was equal to seeking a compromise with a killer who had broken into your house, and wants to kill your family and burn your house down.

Another user posted the following.

“The problem with telling an arrogant rich guy like you to stay in their lane, is that you think every lane is your lane, which explains a bit about Telsla’s autopilot,” clapped back a user on Twitter.

President Volodymyr Zelensky also responded to Musk’s unsolicited polls on how to bring about “peace”, amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of the country.

Zelensky has consistently maintained that Ukraine will not cede any of its territory to Russia, especially whilst its armed forces continue their illegal invasion of the country.

He posted the following poll about Elon Musk.

Last Friday, President Vladimir Putin declared four Ukrainian regions to be part of Russia, following the sham referendums that have been globally denounced as fraudulent.

Russia does not fully control any of the four regions after its army retreat from key locations.

Friend or foe?

It should be noted that Elon Musk has previously assisted Ukraine when it was invaded.

In early March as Russia invaded and marched on Kyiv, Musk activated SpaceX’s Starlink satellites for the country, to help Ukraine continue communicating, as Russia forces sought to cut electricity, water, and Internet in the sovereign nation.

A security researcher then pointed out that Starlink terminals could be targetted by Russian missiles.

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Musk also donated a number of Starlink stations and terminals to Ukraine, and offered with advice to reduce the risk of the terminals being targetted by Russian ordnance.