Tit for tat between Musk, Ukrainians over Zelensky mockery
3 Min Read
Elon Musk and the Kiev regime engage in a war of memes on social media.
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Elon Musk leaves a US Senate bipartisan Artificial Intelligence (AI) Insight Forum at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on September 13, 2023 (AFP)
Tesla and X CEO Elon Musk mocked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for requesting additional financial assistance from the United States and its allies.
Musk owns SpaceX, which provides Starlink satellite communication services critical to Ukraine's defense effort, but his views have occasionally enraged Kiev since the start of the war in February 2022.
On Sunday, Musk posted on X the popular "stressed guy" meme with Zelensky's face photoshopped onto it, with the caption: "When it's been five minutes and you haven't asked for a billion dollars in aid."
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 1, 2023
The post comes after Zelensky sought to rally greater US backing during a September visit to Washington. According to US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the Ukrainian leader informed him that "if we don't get the aid, we will lose the war."
The Ukrainians responded to the billionaire in his own way. The speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, quoted Musk's post with a caption that read: "The case when ...(Elon Musk) tried to conquer space, but something went wrong and in 5 minutes he was up to his eyeballs in shit," in reference to SpaceX's failed rocket launch in April.
The case when a dude @elonmusk tried to conquer space, but something went wrong and in 5 minutes he was up to his eyeballs in shit. https://t.co/4SW9dJNJvt
— Ruslan Stefanchuk (@r_stefanchuk) October 2, 2023
Similarly, the Ukrainian parliament accused Musk of spreading Russian propaganda, posting: "When it's been 5 minutes and you haven't spread Russian propaganda."
— Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine - Ukrainian Parliament (@ua_parliament) October 2, 2023
Mykhailo Podolyak, a Ukrainian presidential advisor who has previously criticized some of Musk's remarks, considered that remaining silent or sarcastic about Ukraine served as Russian propaganda.
"Unfortunately, not everyone and not always, while being significant media figures, but being thousands of kilometres away from the war's epicenter, is able to realize what the daily bombardments and cries of children losing their parents are," he wrote on X.
Any support for Russia today is a direct investment in war, genocide, destruction of the free world, escalation and the right to impunity. Any silence or irony towards Ukraine today is a direct encouragement of Russian propaganda that justifies mass violence and destruction.…
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) October 2, 2023
It is noteworthy that last October, Musk got entangled in a disagreement with Ukrainian politicians and social media users after suggesting a peace proposal to end the war.
At the time, the billionaire proposed repeating the referenda under the supervision of the United Nations in the four regions that were acceded to Russia. He also suggested that Ukraine drop its claims to Crimea.
In response to the proposal, Zelensky launched a social media poll, asking followers "which Elon Musk" they like more; the one "who supports Ukraine" or the one "who supports Russia."
Read more: Musk turned off Starlink over Crimea: Top Kiev intelligence officer
