Ukraine rejects Elon Musk for his unsolicited “peace” plan

(CNN) — Elon Musk sparked a backlash Monday from Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, for his unsolicited advice on how to achieve “peace” amid of the ongoing invasion of the country by Russia.

In a Twitter poll, Musk suggested a path to “peace between Ukraine and Russia” that included redoing elections “under UN supervision” in regions of the country recently illegally annexed by Russia. The land grab, which covered nearly a fifth of Ukraine, followed referendums that much of the world has widely dismissed as “farces”.

Tesla’s billionaire CEO also suggested making Crimea, a region Russia invaded and annexed from Ukraine in 2014, “formally part of Russia.” He added in his points: “The water supply to Crimea is assured” and “Ukraine remains neutral”.

Ukraine and most of the world reject any implication of Russian sovereignty over the regions it has invaded, and Ukraine has promised to take back its territory.

“It started in Crimea and it will end in Crimea, and it will be an effective revival of the international legal order,” Zelensky said at the Crimean Platform summit in August. Zelensky has always maintained that Ukraine will not cede any of its territory to Russia.

The majority of those polled on Twitter voted “No” in response to Musk’s poll. In a follow-up tweet, Musk appeared to blame these results on a “bot attack.”

Musk himself and one of his companies, SpaceX, were involved early on in the war in Ukraine, after SpaceX shipped internet terminals star linkwhich can be operated from anywhere with power and a clear view of the sky, to the war-torn country.

But his latest thoughts were not well received by Ukrainian officials, after a months-long war that has left a trail of untold devastation in the region.

“‘Fuck’ is my very diplomatic response,” Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany Andrij Melnyk wrote in response to Musk’s Twitter thread.

Zelensky started his own poll on Twitter, asking his followers, “Which @elonmusk do you like best?” The options: “One who supports Ukraine” and “One who supports Russia” (the first had obtained more than 80% of the votes on Monday afternoon).

Kyiv Post, a Ukrainian media outlet, also responded to Musk’s survey, referencing his birthplace in South Africa. “Elon, you’re a great guy and thanks for Starlink, but it would be great if you held votes on things you know. We do not hold votes on apartheid and Nelson Mandela.” wrote the post.

Russian officials, on the other hand, welcomed Musk’s tweets. Dmitry Medvedev, Vice President of the Russian Security Council and former Russian President and Prime Minister, tweeted “Congratulations” to Musk and predicted that Musk’s next tweet would say that “Ukraine is an artificial state.”

Musk went on to tweet defenses for his initial Twitter thread, which seemed to suggest that there was little chance of victory for Ukraine, which recently began rapidly reclaiming territory in the northeast, including the strategically important transportation hub of Lyman.

Musk’s foreign policy comment came a day after Tesla announced lower-than-expected delivery and production figures for the third quarter and days after the car company filed a disappointing humanoid robot. It also comes as his legal battle with Twitter heats up over his attempt to back out of his proposed $44 billion deal to buy the company.