Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk responded Monday to a Twitter poll posted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
What Happened: Musk told Zelenskyy that “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 entrepreneur’s comments came in response to a poll carried out by Zelenskyy, which asked his 6.6 million followers if they liked a Musk who supports Ukraine or one who backs Russia.
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.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 3, 2022
Eighty-two percent of the 1.5 million votes were cast in favor of a Musk who supports Ukraine.
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Why It Matters: Musk, in a separate Twitter poll, had asked his 107 million Twitter followers if they agreed with his four thoughts on how the Russia and Ukraine conflict will eventually come to a peaceful agreement.
In that poll, 61.5% of the 2.04 million respondents voted 'no' to the four points made by Musk, while 38.5% voted 'yes.'
The four points included redoing elections of annexed regions under UN supervision, and Crimea’s status as a part of Russia, and assuring water supply to the peninsula. Musk also mentioned that Ukraine remains neutral as one of his points.
On Monday, chess grandmaster and Russian dissident Garry Kasparov lashed out at Musk on Twitter, calling his poll a “moral idiocy" and a “repetition of Kremlin propaganda.”
In turn, Musk responded by saying SpaceX, which he heads, gave Starlink terminals to Ukraine and lost $80 million in doing so while putting the company and himself at “serious risk of a Russian cyberattack.”
We gave Starlinks to Ukraine & lost $80M+ in doing so, while putting SpaceX & myself at serious risk of Russian cyberattack.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 3, 2022
What have you done besides tweet?
He asked Kasparov, “What have you done besides tweet?”
In a separate interaction on the same thread, Musk clarified that while a small number of those Starlink terminals were paid for by the U.S. government “the vast majority were not.”
A small number of terminals were paid for by the govt, vast majority were not. This is just another bs WaPo hit piece.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 3, 2022
