Elon Musk challenges Vladimir Putin for `single combat`over Ukraine
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Elon Musk, CEO of American electric vehicle manufacturing company Tesla and founder of aerospace company SpaceX, on Monday, challenged Russian President Vladimir Putin for a "single combat" over Russia's ongoing military offensive on Ukraine.
In a series of tweets in Russian, the founder of aerospace company SpaceX said, "I hereby challenge Vladimir Putin to a single combat," declaring that Ukraine is at stake.
In a subsequent tweet, the world's richest man asked the Russian president if he "agrees to this fight."
Tagging the official Twitter handle of President of Russia, this time, Mr Musk wrote in Cyrillic, "Do you agree to this fight?"
When one of Musk's 77 million followers wrote that the Tesla founder might not have thought his challenge through, he said he was "absolutely serious."
There was no immediate reaction from the Kremlin.
Earlier this month, the SpaceX CEO and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had a discussion about the "possible space projects. In a tweet, Mr Zelensky said, "Talked to Elon Musk. I am grateful to him for supporting Ukraine with words and deeds. Next week, we will receive another batch of Starlink systems for destroyed cities. Discussed possible space projects. But I will talk about this after the war."
Elon Musk has also provided internet facilities to Ukraine after the network connectivity was disrupted due to the military operation by Russia. Tesla's Starlink internet terminals were shipped to the war-hit zone after Mykhailo Fedorov, Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine, had sought help.
Mr Fedorov, in a tweet, wrote, "While you try to colonise Mars -- Russia try to occupy Ukraine. While your rockets successfully land from space -- Russian rockets attack Ukrainian civil people. We ask you to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations."
As the Starlink internet terminals arrived in Ukraine, Mr Fedorov shared a picture of the truck and penned a thank you note for the SpaceX CEO.
Elon Musk replied, "You are most welcome."
