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Elon Musk draws rebuke from Ukraine after tweeting ‘peace’ plan | Russia-Ukraine war News

Musk’s proposal to seek a negotiated solution to Russia’s invasion and cede Crimea for good has angered Ukrainians.

A poll by the outspoken billionaire Elon Musk asking Twitter users to weigh in on a plan to end the Ukraine war has sparked a flurry of criticism, including from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The controversial “peace” proposal put forward by the entrepreneur behind Tesla Inc and SpaceX included in the United Nations-supervised elections four Ukrainian regions recently annexed by Russia, and recognizing Crimea as Russian territory.

Crimea, which was occupied by Russia in 2014, is strategically important for its access to the Black Sea. Most nations recognize Crimea as an autonomous region within Ukraine and reject Russia’s illegal annexation of the territory.

The initial four-point proposal was amended later on Monday in a subsequent tweet asking users if they would support a referendum in Crimea.

Musk has expressed solidarity with Ukraine and provided through his company SpaceX equipment for its Starlink internet serviceso that the war-torn country could maintain online access to the rest of the world.

But Ukrainians viewed his proposals as a betrayal of his earlier support.

President Zelenskyy responded by launching a Twitter poll accusing Musk of contradicting himself.

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 the legal owner of the car or of the wheels. Even though they claim both voted in favor of it. Just saying,” he tweeted.

Later on Monday, Musk sent out a third tweet in which he argued that Russia would go into “full war mobilization,” as opposed to the partial mobilization announced on September 21, if Crimea was at risk. “Death on both sides will be devastating,” he said.

“Russia has >3 times the population of Ukraine, so victory for Ukraine is unlikely in total war. If you care about the people of Ukraine, seek peace,” he said.

One user replied by launching a poll asking “who should decide Ukraine’s fate: Ukrainians or Elon Musk?”

Ukrainian forces achieved their biggest breakthrough in the country’s south since Russia invaded, pushing across Russian lines on Monday and advancing along the Dnieper river.

Musk is involved in a court battle over the purchase of Twitter, after the social media giant approved his $44bn offer to buy the company.

The world’s richest man said in July that he was terminating the agreementaccusing Twitter of failing to provide information about fake or spam accounts on its platform.




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