Kiev ought to pursue a “negotiated settlement” with Moscow earlier than it loses all entry to the Black Sea, the billionaire has argued
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has reiterated his perception that Ukraine’s place is weakening with every passing day of the hostilities, warning that the “actual query” is how a lot territory Kiev will lose and what number of lives it would waste earlier than sitting for talks with Moscow.
The entrepreneur claimed in a publish on his X platform on Saturday that “any idiot might have predicted” that Kiev’s much-touted counteroffensive final yr would fail, including that even when Kiev had adopted his suggestion to “entrench and apply all sources to protection,” it could be “powerful to carry land that doesn’t have sturdy pure obstacles.”
“It was a tragic waste of life for Ukraine to assault a bigger military that had protection in depth, minefields and stronger artillery when Ukraine lacked armor or air superiority!,” Musk wrote.
The billionaire went on to argue that “the longer the warfare goes on, the extra territory Russia will achieve till they hit the Dnepr, which is hard to beat.”
Nonetheless, if the warfare lasts lengthy sufficient, Odessa will fall too… Whether or not Ukraine loses all entry to the Black Sea or not is, for my part, the true remaining query. I like to recommend a negotiated settlement earlier than that occurs.
Elon Musk has shifted his place on Ukraine a number of instances because the battle started in early 2022. He initially provided Kiev with free Starlink web terminals and entry to the satellite-based community, however declined to activate the service close to Crimea for worry that Ukraine would use it to information drone assaults on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. If this had occurred, he defined final yr, SpaceX would have been “complicit in a significant act of warfare and battle escalation.”
Musk has additionally used his X account to talk extensively concerning the trajectory of the battle. Greater than a yr in the past, he proposed that Kiev abandon its declare to Crimea, declare neutrality, and permit the 4 new Russian areas – Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye – to carry contemporary referendums on becoming a member of the Russian Federation. This proposal is just like the phrases supplied by Russia to Kiev and the Western powers earlier than the battle started, besides Moscow initially referred to as just for autonomy in Donetsk and Lugansk.
Moscow has confused that it stays open to significant talks with Kiev and has blamed the shortage of a diplomatic breakthrough on the Ukrainian authorities, who refuse to just accept the “actuality on the bottom.” Ukraine should keep in mind the truth that its borders have modified drastically since 2022, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned on Saturday, commenting on Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s suggestion {that a} return to 1991 borders was not a precondition for negotiations.
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