Mortal combat: Musk vs Putin battle of might over Ukraine’s freedom

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, challenged Vladimir Putin to a single battle over Ukraine on Monday.

“I hereby challenge Vladimir Putin to single combat,” Musk wrote on Twitter, adding, “Stakes are Ukraine.”

“Do you agree to this fight?” he said.

Musk previously delivered internet service to Ukraine via the company’s Starlink satellites.

Also read: Missile strike in Ukraine’s Donetsk causes multiple casualties: Report

The move came in response to a request from Ukraine’s deputy prime minister to assist the country in maintaining internet connection in the face of the Russian invasion.

The service maintains a constellation of over 2,000 satellites with the goal of providing internet connectivity around the world.

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, the web monitoring group NetBlocks has documented a series of substantial disruptions to internet connectivity in Ukraine.

Also read: Russia seeking military aid from China, claims US

“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.”

Musk, on the other hand, has claimed that Starlink will not restrict 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 mogul tweeted.

“Sorry to be a free speech absolutist.”

Previously, the European Union 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 took steps to limit the dissemination of Russian state-linked news media.

The Russian government has imposed a press blackout, making various media websites unusable, Twitter restricted, and Facebook prohibited.

Also read: Explained: A look at weapons used by Russia in war against Ukraine

Meanwhile, sources claim that rising raw material costs, exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, will stymie Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s and other auto executives’ plans to push out more affordable electric vehicles.

Rising nickel, lithium, and other material prices threaten to slow or even reverse the long-term trend of falling battery costs, the most expensive component of EVs, impeding broader adoption of the technology, according to Gregory Miller, an analyst at industry forecaster Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.