Elon Musk, the founder of Twitter, came under fire from a top Ukrainian presidential aide over the weekend, calling his proposals for dealing with Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Twitter content control "magical simple solutions."
Examples of such recommendations from Mykhailo Podolyak include "exchang(ing) foreign territories for an illusory peace" and "open(ing) all private accounts because freedom of speech has to be total."
Podolyak posted on Twitter, "(Elon Musk) prefers so-called magical 'simple solutions'," in an apparent reference to Musk's plans to reform Twitter, which he took over on Oct. 27, and a tweet in which he called for Ukraine to give up the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula in exchange for peace. Musk is a self-described supporter of free speech.
Since the commencement of the Russian invasion on Feb. 24, Ukraine and Musk, the richest man in the world, have had a tumultuous relationship. In the early stages of the conflict, he won accolades for giving Ukraine thousands of free Starlink satellite internet equipment produced by Musk's SpaceX. However, the relationship soured in October when Musk expressed support for peace terms that Kyiv had rejected.
The billionaire advocated for formal recognition of Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and UN-supervised elections in other seized regions to determine whether Russia should remain or depart. Ukrainian government representatives, including Podolyak, reacted angrily to the tweet. The notion that Kyiv will cede land for peace has been shot down numerous times.
Soon after this disagreement, Musk voiced his public displeasure about the expense of permanently providing Ukraine with free Starlink services. In October, he claimed that just 10,630 of the 25,300 Starlinks that were supplied to Ukraine were actually making service payments.
While acknowledging that "some" terminals are being given away for free, Kyiv has not supplied precise numbers. On Oct. 15, Musk changed his tone and declared that the business would keep operating Ukraine's free Starlinks.
It wasn't immediately obvious if Musk was being sincere or sarcastic when he made his offer. A request for comment from SpaceX did not receive a prompt response. Musk stated on Friday that SpaceX will not be able to support Starlink in Ukraine forever. The program has aided military personnel and civilians in staying online during the conflict with Russia.
He said this in response to a media story that SpaceX had requested payment from the Pentagon for Starlink's donations. The billionaire and Ukrainian authorities have engaged in online arguments over a proposed peace plan that Ukraine claims is overly lenient toward Russia.
