Tue 04 October 2022:
Elon Musk, a controversial billionaire, recently conducted a poll on Twitter asking users to comment on a proposal to end the conflict in Ukraine. This poll drew a barrage of criticism, including that of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The highly controversial “peace” proposal put forth by the businessman behind Tesla Inc. and SpaceX included United Nations-supervised elections in the four Ukrainian regions recently annexed by Russia, and recognising Crimea as Russian territory.
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
Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea resulted in its strategic importance due to its Black Sea access.
The majority of countries reject Russia’s annexation of the territory and recognize Crimea as an autonomous region of Ukraine.
The initial four-point proposal was amended later on Monday in a subsequent tweet asking users if they would support another referendum in Crimea – the last one, which was widely condemned as illigitemate, was held in 2014.
Musk has previously shown support for Ukraine by providing equipment through his company SpaceX for its Starlink internet service, allowing the war-torn country to keep its connection to the rest of the world online.
However, his proposals were seen as a betrayal of his earlier support by the Ukrainians.
President Zelenskyy replied by launching a Twitter poll accusing Musk of contradicting himself.
Which @elonmusk do you like more?
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) October 3, 2022
Andrij Melnyk, Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, had a blunt response to Musk’s initial poll.
“F— off is my very diplomatic reply to you @elonmusk,” he wrote on Twitter.
Musk responded to Zelenskyy in a public tweet late on Monday, saying he still supported Ukraine but feared the consequences of escalating the war.
“This is highly likely to be the outcome in the end – just a question of how many die before then,” Musk said.
“Also worth noting that a possible, albeit unlikely, outcome from this conflict is nuclear war,” he added.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda weighed in on the dispute between Ukraine and the Tesla CEO.
“Dear @elonmusk when someone tries to steal the wheels of your Tesla, it doesn’t make them legal owner of the car or of the wheels. Even though they claim both voted in favour of it. Just saying,” he tweeted.
Musk then sent out a third tweet arguing that Russia would go into “full war mobilisation”, as opposed to the partial mobilisation announced on September 21, if Crimea was at risk.
“Death on both sides will be devastating,” he said.
“Russia has >3 times population of Ukraine, so victory for Ukraine is unlikely in total war. If you care about the people of Ukraine, seek peace,” he said.
In the meantime, Ukrainian forces broke through Russian lines and advanced along the Dnieper river on Monday, making their biggest advancement in the south of the country since Russia’s invasion.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:
TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent
FACEBOOK (CLICK HERE)
https://web.facebook.com/ipindependent
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
