‘Just stop’: Ukraine newspaper slams Elon Musk’s comments on Russian invasion

Ukraine’s patience with tech billionaire Elon Musk appears to be wearing thin – but the quest for his idea of peace continues.

Ukraine’s oldest English speaking news agency has put outspoken tech billionaire Elon Musk on blast over a series of tweets about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The Kyiv Post took to Twitter on Friday, fed up with Mr Musk’s controversial “peace plan”.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO suggested earlier this week that peace between Russia and Ukraine could be found by redoing “elections of annexed regions under UN supervision”, with Russia to leave “if that is the will of the people”.

He suggested Crimea be formally recognised as part of Russia which he claimed “has been since 1783 (until Khrushchev’s mistake)”, and that “water supply to Crimea” be assured. Mr Musk’s plan also suggested Ukraine would remain “neutral”.

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

He even topped it all off with an offer to the Twittersphere to have its final say, with a yes or no poll at the end of the tweet. And of the over 2.7 million respondents, 60 per cent disagreed.

The news agency was the latest to hit back at Mr Musk’s view on peace between the two nations after a pile-on earlier in the week, accusing his of being a pseudo Ukraine expert.

Elon Musk hasn’t backed down on his ‘peace plan’ despite huge backlash from Ukraine. Photo: Jim Watson

“The Elon Musk situation is clearly getting out of hand, and it seems like pride and vanity play a behemoth role in his attempt to pose as an expert on Ukraine,” the newspaper wrote.

“Just stop, Elon. It’s OK to admit that you overdid something. Just stop.”

Musk replied: “I’m a big fan of Ukraine, but not of WW3”.

I’m a big fan of Ukraine, but not of WW3

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 6, 2022

His response was akin to an earlier though he’d tweeted on the issue where he said: “I still very much support Ukraine, but am convinced that massive escalation of the war will cause great harm to Ukraine and possibly the world.”

The publication then invited Musk to do an interview to further explain his thoughts, acknowledging previous contributions the billionaire had made the nation’s cause.

“Look, like we said before we are grateful to you for the Starlinks. We naturally disagree with your peace plan and make no secret of it — but we do invite you to give us an interview and explain why your stance is like that,” the newspaper wrote.

After his initial tweet, Mr Musk was instantly blasted by high-profile Ukrainians including President Volodymyr Zelensky who tweeted poll of his own.

“Which Elon Musk do you like more?” he wrote.

“One who supports Ukraine,” read the first option on his Twitter poll. “One who supports Russia,” the second poll option said.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared to take offence to Musk’s tweet.

One Ukrainian diplomat and lawyer Andrij Melnyk even went as far to say: “F**k off is my very diplomatic reply to you [Elon Musk].”

High-profile human rights advocate and champion world chess player Garry Kasparov chimed in, labelling his suggestion: “Moral idiocy”.

“This is moral idiocy, repetition of Kremlin propaganda, a betrayal of Ukrainian courage and sacrifice, and puts a few minutes browsing Crimea on Wikipedia over the current horrific reality of Putin’s bloody war,” he said.

But Mr Musk shot back at Kasparov.

“We gave Starlink to Ukraine and lost $80 million in doing so, while putting SpaceX and myself at serious risk of Russian cyberattack,” he said.

“What have you done besides tweet?”

SpaceX's Starlink satellite broadband service (pictured) was activated in Ukraine, after a Kyiv official urged Musk to provide his embattled country with stations. Photo: Mariana Suarez

Starlink, a satellite internet constellation operated by Musk’s SpaceX, was activated in Ukraine less than 12 hours after Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, asked Musk directly via tweet.

He has since remained steadfast that use of nuclear weapons is a very real possibility should fighting continue

“Also worth noting that a possible, albeit unlikely, outcome from this conflict is nuclear war,” he said earlier this week.

Mr Musk, a self-professed free speech absolutist, relaunched his bid to purchase Twitter earlier this week.