At this point, Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine isn’t going well, and that appears to be something that he won’t accept. He recently persisted in mobilizing a vast chunk of fighting-aged Russian men, a move that Putin eventually sort-of admitted that he botched, but from there, he hasn’t decided to stand down. Instead, Putin’s proud that (seven months on) his army’s been able to gather enough Russian villages to annex four regions of Ukraine, but the cities appear to evade capture. Russia was forced to withdraw from the Eastern stronghold of Lyman, and that’s sparked two of Putin’s biggest allies to drag Putin to his face. And on Monday, Ukrainian forces made a stunning Southern advance, which is a development that follows Russian soldiers declaring that there’s no way that Kiev will fall to Putin’s troops.
In other words, this war is in no way guaranteed to go Putin’s way in the end. However, Elon Musk sent unsolicited advice to Ukraine on how to seek peace with Russia:
– 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.
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
Musk also made this statement into a poll, and as of this writing, 63.2% of respondents have chosen the “no” option. He continued to argue (in terms of sheer population numbers) that Ukraine has no chance “in total war,” which assumes that the rest of Russia won’t head to the borders if Putin eventually chooses a “full war mobilization.” The Tesla CEO then argued that peace is the only option to save the Ukrainian people.
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.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 3, 2022
From there (via Mediaite), Musk received a choice response. Andrij Melnyk, who is Ukraine’s ambassador in Germany, declared, “F*ck off is my very diplomatic reply to you.”
Fuck off is my very diplomatic reply to you @elonmusk
— Andrij Melnyk (@MelnykAndrij) October 3, 2022
Diplomacy ain’t dead. Russia might have sheer population numbers, but citizens are fleeing to neighboring countries because they don’t want to fight Putin’s war. Whereas Ukraine’s citizens are all-in, and they have Molotov cocktail-wielding grandmas, so it doesn’t sound like peace will be happening anytime soon.