Elon Musk has an immense platform, very clear opinions on most geopolitical topics, and he is not shy about sharing them.
Now, he has ‘dared’ opine about the need of start negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, about how the conflict is cutting down an entire generation, and the responsibility that president Volodymyr Zelensky bears on it.
Those of us paying close attention these last 20 months can’t help but feel that Musk is not wrong.
If on one hand the Ukrainian troops have been fighting valiantly, it is also true that time and again Zelensky takes political decisions against the sensible military tactical moves.
The siege of Mariupol comes to mind. Even after the situation became hopeless, the leader insisted they had to defend it to the bitter end – in the city, in the Azovstal industrial zone, in the underground tunnels and bunkers.
Or maybe we can talk about Bakhmut, that Zelensky called ‘the fortress of our morale’ – where endless troops were subjected to the ‘meat grinder’ when every Ukrainian military adviser called for a retreat to a better fortified defensive position.
And now there’s Avdiivka, about to be encircled into a new cauldron, but one wants to cut to the chase and talk about the hyped, failed counteroffensive that is said to have cost them 90k troops in just a few months.
If you realize Kiev is now conscripting old, disabled mean and even women, you realize the size of the problem.
Elon Musk spoke out about the war between Ukraine and Russia pic.twitter.com/qUqqX7cyzC
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) November 11, 2023
Zelensky should avoid needlessly sending young Ukrainians to be slaughtered on the battlefield with Russia, Musk said.
In an interview with US podcaster Lex Fridman, he was asked whether he believed Zelensky should negotiate peace with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
RT reported:
“Musk did not provide a straight answer, but noted he would ‘just recommend [that Zelensky] do not send the flower of Ukrainian youth to die in trenches’, regardless of whether he engages with Putin or not.
‘Whoever goes on the offensive will lose massive numbers of people and history will not look kindly upon them’, he added.
The Tesla CEO has weighed in on the hostilities between Moscow and Kiev on numerous occasions, noting in September that the Ukrainian counteroffensive that began in early summer had brought ‘so much death for so little [gain]’.
Musk previously floated a peace plan suggesting that Kiev should recognize Crimea as part of Russia, while the four former Ukrainian territories that overwhelmingly voted to join Russia in referendums last autumn should redo the votes under UN supervision. The idea, however, sparked a backlash in Ukraine. Andrey Melnik, the country’s then-ambassador to Germany, told Musk to ‘f**k off’.”
While Moscow has is reportedly open to talks with Kiev, Zelensky has signed a decree banning all negotiations with Russia ‘as long as Putin remains in power’.
Lots of reports now in the media are addressing the need for negotiations and even suggesting that secret talks would already ne ongoing.
But Musk didn’t go that far: his stance is roughly the same of Valery Zaluzhny, Commander in Chief of the Ukrainian army, that was to stop senseless ‘advances’ and fortify defenses before they are overrun by Russian Federation forces.
By Paul Serran