The crisis between Russia and Ukraine is escalating, and the hazardous situation is eliciting reactions from all across the world. Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of Tesla, is back in the spotlight, and this time he has challenged Russian President Vladimir Putin to single combat’. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, challenged Vladimir Putin to single combat with Ukraine being at stake on Monday.
Musk remarked on Twitter, “I hereby challenge Vladimir Putin to single combat,” adding, “Stakes are Ukraine.”
“Do you agree to this fight?” he said.
While Russia has not responded to Musk’s Tweet, the Russian Space Agency’s head answered in Russian, labeling Musk a “weakling.”
Since the war began on February 24, the 50-year-old businessman has been vocal about his support for Ukraine. Musk had already supplied internet connectivity to Ukraine via his Starlink satellites.
The decision occurred in response to a request from Ukraine’s deputy prime minister to assist the country in maintaining internet connection during the Russian invasion.
The service uses a constellation of more than 2,000 satellites to deliver internet connectivity to people all around the world.
Since the Russian invasion, the web monitoring group NetBlocks has documented a series of substantial internet service problems in Ukraine.
Free speech absolutist
“Some Starlink terminals near conflict areas were being jammed for several hours at a time,” Musk said last week.
“SpaceX reprioritized to cyber defense & overcoming signal jamming. Will cause slight delays in Starship & Starlink V2. (https://gunnewsdaily.com/) ”
However, Musk had also stated Starlink will not block Russian media outlets “unless at gunpoint.”
“Starlink has been told by some governments (not Ukraine) to block Russian news sources. We will not do so unless at gunpoint,” the tech titan tweeted.
“Sorry to be a free speech absolutist.”
The European Union had previously barred Russian state-funded news outlets RT and Sputnik from the 27-nation EU, while US-based social media behemoths such as Twitter and Facebook parent Meta had taken steps to limit the distribution of Russian state-linked news.
Russian authorities have enforced a press blackout with multiple media websites being partially inaccessible. Russia has restricted Twitter and blocked Facebook.
Fedorov said that he was convinced that Musk could send Putin to Jupiter after Musk challenged Vladimir Putin to a single combat’ in a tweet.
Meanwhile, sources claim that rising raw material costs, exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, could put the Tesla CEO’s and other auto executives’ dream of producing more affordable electric vehicles on hold.