Elon Musk, in an X-call with Republican senators who opposed the Ukraine funding bill which has just passed the Senate, said yesterday that there was “no way in hell” that Russia could lose the conflict in Ukraine. He was joined by Republican Senators Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, J.D. Vance of Ohio and Mike Lee of Utah, who voted against the Senate bill, as well as Vivek Ramaswamy, a former Republican presidential pre-candidate, and David Sacks, a co-founder of Craft Ventures. Musk said he hoped that Americans would contact their elected representatives about the Ukraine bill. “This spending does not help Ukraine. Prolonging the war does not help Ukraine,” he said.
Musk rejected the claim that he was a pro-Putin apologist, noting that his early permission to Ukraine to use Starlink satellite services had probably done a lot to harm the Russian military effort. He said his interest was in stopping the deaths of people on both sides of the war, adding that he doubted the wisdom of seeking Putin’s ouster. “For those who want regime change in Russia, they should think about who is the person that could take out Putin, and is that person likely to be a peacenik? Probably not.”
