A man walks via the ruins of a constructing in the metropolis of Kadiivka (Stakhanov) in the Luhansk location, Ukraine, which Moscow claims is Russian territory. (Reuters)
UNITED NATIONS — Billionaire Elon Musk on Monday requested Twitter people to weigh in on a plan to finish Russia’s war in Ukraine that drew speedy condemnation from Ukrainians, which include President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who responded with his very own poll.
“Which @elonmusk do you like extra?,” Zelenskyy tweeted, offering two responses: a single who supports Ukraine, a person who supports Russia.
Musk, the world’s richest person, proposed U.N.-supervised elections in 4 occupied regions that Moscow past week moved to annex just after what it referred to as referendums. The votes ended up denounced by Kyiv and Western governments as illegal and coercive.
“Russia leaves if that is will of the individuals,” Musk wrote, a seemingly not likely state of affairs.
The Tesla Inc chief government recommended that Crimea, which Moscow seized in 2014, be formally identified as Russia, that drinking water offer to Crimea be assured and that Ukraine continue being neutral, relatively than sign up for NATO. He asked Twitter end users to vote “certainly” or “no” on the plan.
“Pricey @elonmusk, when anyone attempts to steal the wheels of your Tesla, it would not make them authorized operator of the vehicle or of the wheels. Even though they claim each voted in favor of it. Just indicating,” Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nausėda tweeted in reaction.
Musk, who is also chief executive of SpaceX, adopted up his to start with tweet with one more poll: “Let’s try this then: the will of the individuals who stay in the Donbas & Crimea really should make a decision whether they are aspect of Russia or Ukraine.”
He stated he did not treatment if his proposal was unpopular, arguing that he did care “that hundreds of thousands of persons may perhaps die needlessly for an fundamentally similar end result.”
“Russia has >3 instances population of Ukraine, so victory for Ukraine is unlikely in total war. If you treatment about the people today of Ukraine, search for peace,” he posted on Twitter.
In February, when Ukraine’s web was disrupted pursuing Russia’s invasion, Musk responded to a tweet by a Ukrainian governing administration official searching for aid. Musk stated SpaceX’s Starlink satellite broadband provider was accessible in Ukraine and that SpaceX was sending more terminals to the nation.
Ukraine’s outspoken outgoing ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, experienced a blunt reaction to Musk’s peace approach. Melnyk himself confronted criticism in July for defending Planet War Two Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera.
“F— off is my very diplomatic reply to you @elonmusk,” tweeted Melnyk.
Just can’t hold out to study your one-tweet remedies for Israel/Palestine and Gondor/Mordor you should
— Leonid Volkov (@leonidvolkov)
Oct 3, 2022