Billionaire U.S. businessman Elon Musk proposed a plan on Twitter to end the war in Ukraine and Ukrainian officials are not taking it well, with one telling him to “fuck off.”
In a tweet on Monday, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO proposed throwing out the results of the recent referendums eastern Ukrainian territories held to leave Ukraine and join Russia. Musk’s proposed a new referendum be held, this time under the supervision of the United Nations, and with a Russian commitment to pull out of Ukraine if the eastern Ukrainian people don’t vote to join Russia.
On Monday, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO, tweeted, “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.” Musk shared the proposal as a yes/no Twitter poll.
Musk’s tweet proposal also included a guarantee from the Ukrainian side that they will not cut off the water supply flowing to Crimea, a Ukrainian territory annexed by Russia in 2014. After the 2014 annexation, the Ukrainian government did cut off the flow of water through the North Crimea Canal, which accounted for about 80 percent of Crimea’s water supply. Russian forces blew up dams and restored the flow of water through the canal after launching their full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February.
Musk’s proposal included the additional condition that “Ukraine remains nuetral,” meaning it will not become a member of the U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
In a subsequent pair of tweets, Musk said, “This is highly likely to be the outcome in the end – just a question of how many die before then.”
“Also worth noting that a possible, albeit unlikely, outcome from this conflict is nuclear war,” Musk added.
The last warning about a nuclear war comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin has made multiple indications that Russia could use nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.
In the days after Russia’s invasion, Musk activated his Starlink satellite internet services for Ukraine for free, helping them to maintain communications channels despite the destruction from the Russian invasion.
Despite Musk’s earlier gesture of support for Ukraine, leaders of the country were not happy with his proposal.
“Fuck off is my very diplomatic reply to you @elonmusk,” Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Andrij Melnyk tweeted.
Ukrainian President Voloymyr Zelenskyy tweeted his own two-option Twitter poll, “Which @elonmusk do you like more?” with the choice of “One who supports Ukraine” or “One who supports Russia.”
Russian Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov responded more favorably to Musk’s poll, saying it was a good sign that someone with Musk’s influence is “looking for a peaceful way out.” Peskov said the two sides won’t be able to achieve peace “without fulfilling Russia’s conditions.”
