One of the richest men in the world, Elon Musk, enjoys tweeting. He made the decision to tweet his views on Ukraine today, which prompted diplomats and lawmakers in Ukraine to literally tell him to “f**k off.” In classic Musk form, he persisted in voicing his comments over a conflict fought halfway around the planet.

Also read: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky responds to Elon Musk Ukraine-Russia online poll

Just after noon on Monday, the billionaire tweeted a proposal for a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia that would see Ukraine cede annexed territory to Russia. This is when the issue first surfaced.  

Also read: Elon Musk on ‘Ukraine-Russia Peace’ and the possibility of a nuclear war

“Redo elections of annexed regions under U.N. supervision. Russia leaves if that is the will of the people. Crimea formally part of Russia, as it has been since 1783 (until Khrushchev’s mistake). Water supply to Crimea resumed. Ukraine remains neutral,” he tweeted.

“This is highly likely to be the outcome in the end—just a question of how many die before then. Also worth noting that a possible, albeit unlikely, outcome from this conflict is nuclear war,” he added in subsequent tweets. 1,702,715 votes were cast at the time of writing this, with 63 percent voting no and 36 percent voting yes.

Andrij Melnyk, a Ukrainian diplomat responded fiercely. He tweeted, “Fuck off is my very dipolomatic reply to you @elonmusk.”

A user responded when the poll began to move away from Musk by claiming that “Ukrainian bots” would spam the poll. “The bot attack on this poll is strong!” Musk answered. He claimed in another tweet, it was the “biggest bot attack I’ve ever seen.”

When he didn’t get the responses he desired, Musk launched a new poll. “Let’s try this then: the will of the people who live in the Donbas & Crimea should decide whether they’re part of Russia or Ukraine.” 1,273,934 votes were cast at the time of writing this, with 55% saying “yes” and 45% saying “no.”

Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, responded by tweeting his own poll. “Which @elonmusk do you like more? One who supports Ukraine” or “One who supports Russia?”   As of this writing, 89% of voters approve of supporting Ukraine, while 11% are opposed, out of 1,121,489 votes.

Mykhailo Podolyak, the adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, also replied to Musk’s second poll, saying, “Are you trying to legitimize pseudo-referendums that took place at gunpoint under conditions of persecution, mass executions and torture? Bad path.”

“No, I’m suggesting voting under UN (or pick your most trusted entity or country) supervision,” was Musk’s prompt response to Podolyak’s comment, following it with another tweet saying, “Maybe a similar approach to Kosovo.”

Podolyak then replied, “Will hundred thousand dead in Mariupol vote? Or those who went through concentration camps? @elonmusk you create rockets and dream of colonizing Mars. Russia creates mobile crematoria and dreams of Ukrainians disappearing as a nation. It is not a “voting” issue.”

In another tweet, the presidential adviser tweeted, “@elonmusk there is a better peace plan. 1. 🇺🇦 liberates its territories. Including the annexed Crimea. 2. 🇷🇺 undergoes demilitarization and mandatory denuclearization so it can no longer threaten others. 3. War criminals go through international tribunal. Let’s vote?” At the time of writing this, 94% of the 189,427 votes cast voted “yes” and 6% “no.”

The tweet that Musk currently has pinned is another one that foresees disaster if Russia is not placated. “Russia is doing partial mobilization. They go to full war mobilisation if Crimea is at risk. Death on both sides will be devastating,” he tweeted. “Russia has >3 times population of Ukraine, so victory for Ukraine is unlikely in total war. If you care about the people of Ukraine, seek peace.”

After experiencing setbacks in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a “partial mobilisation” of military reservists in Russia on September 21, 2022, and signed the corresponding decree No. 647 “On the Declaration of Partial Mobilization in the Russian Federation.” The choice was made a day after the declaration of referendums on the annexation of the DPR, LPR, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts and shortly after the effective Ukrainian counteroffensive in Kharkiv Oblast.