Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, received criticism from Ukrainian officials for his Tweets offering advice on how to achieve "peace" amid the current conflict between Moscow and Kyiv, including Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Musk put out a Twitter poll to stop Russia's actions in Ukraine through its official Twitter account. The CEO of Tesla proposed a number of solutions to the issue, asking his followers to support or reject them. One of his options was to legally recognise Russia's annexation of Crimea.
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Musk, who is also chief executive of SpaceX, said: "Russia is doing partial mobilization. They go to full war mobilization if Crimea is at risk. Death on both sides will be devastating. Russia has >3 times population of Ukraine, so victory for Ukraine is unlikely in total war. If you care about the people of Ukraine, seek peace."
Irked over the billionaire's comments, Ukrainian former Ambassador to Germany Andrij Melnyk lashed out at Tesla CEO Musk.
"The only outcome that now no Ukrainian will EVER buy your f...ing tesla crap. So good luck to you," he said in another tweet. While Zelenskyy tweeted offering two responses: one who supports Ukraine, one who supports Russia: "Which @elonmusk do you like more?,"Russian President Vladimir Putin last week formally announced the annexation of four regions - Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia and claimed that "this is the will of millions of people."
Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24 in response to a request for aid from the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics to protect themselves. Following the military action, the western nations enacted a number of sanctions aimed at the Russian economy.
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(With inputs from ANI)