- Elon Musk predicted that Russia would gain more land in the ongoing war in Ukraine.
- Musk said he believes Ukraine should focus on defending its territory rather than attacking.
- Musk’s SpaceX initially sent thousands of Starlink terminals to Ukraine, but relations have since cooled.
Elon Musk spoke out on the war between Russia and Ukraine on Saturday, saying he believed Russia would “definitely gain more land than it has today.”
In response to a message on X, formerly Twitter, about the war, Musk said: “It was a tragic loss of life for Ukraine to attack a larger army with defense in depth, minefields and more powerful artillery while Ukraine lacked armor or air superiority! Any fool could have predicted that.”
He said he recommended a year ago that Ukraine devote all its resources to defending its territory rather than trying to attack Russian forces.
“There is no chance that Russia will take all of Ukraine, as local resistance would be extreme in the west, but Russia will certainly gain more land than it has today,” wrote Musk.
He added that he believed a prolonged war could even see Russian forces take the Black Sea port city of Odessa, also noting that, in his view, the big question was whether Ukraine would lose the access to the Black Sea.
“I recommend a negotiated settlement before this happens,” he said.
Several people responded to Musk, criticizing his views and his use of Russian transliterations from “Odessa” and “Dnipro”.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX sent “thousands” of terminals for the company’s Starlink satellite internet service to Ukraine during Russia’s first invasion.
Ukraine said last year that about 42,000 terminals were used by various organizations, including the military and hospitals, Reuters reported.
But Musk has since opted for apparently mocking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for his efforts to obtain aid from the United States.
Musk also revealed that in 2022 he rejected kyiv’s request to activate Starlink near Russian-annexed Crimea, where Ukraine was planning an attack on the Russian navy, because he feared giving SpaceX “explicitly complicit in a major act of war“.
Ukrainian intelligence services have since claimed to have evidence that Russian forces were using Starlink in occupied areas of the country.
SpaceX said in a statement that it “does no business of any kind with the Russian government or its military.”
House Democrats said earlier this month they were investigating SpaceX over whether Russia gained access to Starlink.
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