During the conflict in Ukraine, Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, challenged Russian President Vladimir Putin to a single duel, causing a Kremlin spokesman to slam the Tesla CEO, calling him a weakling and little devil.
“I hereby challenge Vladimir Putin to single combat,” Musk posted on Twitter Monday, a term that refers to a person-to-person fight on a battlefield. “Stakes are Ukraine.”
I hereby challenge
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 14, 2022
Владимир Путин
to single combat
Stakes are Україна
The words “Vladimir Putin” and “Ukraine” were inscribed in both Russian and Ukrainian Cyrillic letters.
Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s vice prime minister, defended Musk on Twitter, saying, “I am sure that @elonmusk can send Putin to Jupiter.”
Fedorov then shared a meme of Putin inside a spaceship with the message “Send Putin to Jupiter,” which includes a link to a website where donors can donate money to Ukraine’s defense.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine about three weeks ago, Musk agreed to deliver Starlink internet terminals to the Ukrainian government in case the country’s landline connections were cut off.
Musk’s start-up internet service, Starlink, allows users to access the internet via a dish that connects to satellites in orbit.
Musk ridiculed Rogozin last week after he stated that the sale of Russian rockets to the US will be prohibited in retribution for the US sanctions regime.
Rogozin earned significant mockery from Musk and others after declaring on state television that he would deny the United States access to Russia’s world-class rocket engines, adding that the US would have to fly on something else, such as broomsticks.
Musk responded to Rogozin’s comments with a screenshot of a previous launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, the phrase American broomstick, and four American flags.
“Time to let the American broomsticks fly and hear the sounds of freedom,” SpaceX’s launch director joked seconds before the company launched 48 Starlink satellites into space on Wednesday.
