Billionaire Elon Musk has recently got into a social media spat with officials of Ukraine, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, over his idea of finishing the Russian invasion.
Musk ignited the controversy on Twitter by proposing a peace deal which involves re-running under UN supervision annexation referendums in Russia-occupied Ukrainian regions, acknowledging Russian sovereignty over the peninsula of Crimea and giving Ukraine a neutral status.
The founder of Tesla and SpaceX has created a poll on Twitter for his over 107 million followers to vote on the idea.
Meanwhile, in reply to Musk’s tweet, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy took to his Twitter handle, asking that, “Which @elonmusk do you like more? With the options “One who supports Ukraine” or “One who supports Russia.”
Moreover, Kyiv’s ambassador to Germany Andriy Melnyk responded bluntly, “My very diplomatic reply (to Musk) is to get lost.”
Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak has made a suggestion about a “better peace plan” under which Ukraine has taken back its territories including Crimea, Russia was demilitarized and denuclearized and “war criminals” faced an international tribunal.
Musk later added that Moscow could announce a full mobilization, which lead to a “full war” where “death on both sides will be ravaging” given Russia’s far larger population.
He mentioned on Twitter, “Win for Ukraine is unlikely in total war. If you care about the Ukrainian people, seek peace.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on Ukraine to cease hostilities and negotiate after ordering a partial mobilization to bolster his forces and threatening to use nuclear weapons.
Zelensky has said he will never negotiate with Russia as long as Putin remained its leader.