Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 18, 2022.
Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP
On Monday, Zelenskyy hit back at Elon Musk’s controversial Twitter poll with a poll of his own.
The Ukrainian president asked people which Musk they like better: one who supports Russia, or Ukraine.
Musk drew ire from Ukrainian diplomats after posting a peace plan for the Ukraine war on Twitter.
On Monday, Elon Musk created a storm of controversy when he posted a poll on Twitter with a proposed “peace plan” for the war in Ukraine. The plan appeared to parrot Putin’s agenda, angering Ukrainian officials — including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
In response, Zelenskyy issued his own Twitter poll — and Musk was the subject of the poll.
“Which @elonmusk do you like more,” Zelenskyy wrote, and provided two options: “one who supports Ukraine” and “one who supports Russia.”
Thirteen hours after it was posted, the tweet had been retweeted nearly 50,000 times. Of the 1.94 million people who voted on the poll at that time, 80.6% of people said they preferred “the one who supports Ukraine.”
—Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) October 3, 2022
Musk’s initial poll laid forth four points for restoring peace between Ukraine and Russia, including redoing election in the parts of Ukraine that Russia recently annexed, recognizing Crimea as part of Russia, assuring water supply to Crimea, and Ukraine remaining neutral. The poll asked people to vote either yes or no, with more than 60% of the 2.4 million voters selecting “no” with seven hours left in the poll.
Among the officials and diplomats that Musk angered with his initial poll was Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to Ukraine’s internal affairs minister.
“Has the account of @elonmusk been hacked by Russians? Or has Elon Musk himself been hacked?” Gerashchenko asked on Twitter. “Should Putin declare Elon Musk’s future Mars colony historically Russian and annex it?” he said.
—Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) October 3, 2022
Later on Monday night, Musk again took to Twitter, writing that he is “obviously” pro-Ukraine. SpaceX has spent $80 million running Starlink in the country and $0 on Russia, Musk wrote.
—Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 3, 2022
Starlink is SpaceX’s satellite communication system, which is being used by Ukrainian soldiers to communicate on the battlefield. Voice and internet services have been rendered useless by power outages, Russian shells, and jamming.