The US tycoon supported the view that an additional $60 billion would not help Kiev push back Russian troops
Elon Musk departs following a meeting in the office of US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on September 13, 2023. © Stefani Reynolds / AFP
Elon Musk has agreed with the post of investor and entrepreneur David Sacks, who said Washington’s efforts to pump Ukraine with more money to help it defeat Russia are doomed to fail.
Writing on the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) on Tuesday, Sacks recalled that while Washington had provided Kiev with more than $100 billion in various forms of assistance last year in the hope that this would enable Ukraine to “push the Russians out in a successful counteroffensive,” this plan did not work out.
“In fact, the lines hardly budged; if anything, Russia gained territory. Now [Washington], DC claims another $60 billion will get the job done. You’re a fool if you believe this,” the businessman argued.
In his response on Wednesday, Musk seemed to agree with this assessment, saying: “Lot of fools out there.”
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Sacks’s remarks came after the administration of US President Joe Biden asked Congress last Friday to approve a $105 billion aid package intended, among other things, to cover the security needs of Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. More than $61 billion of that amount is earmarked for Kiev.
Earlier this month, the White House dropped Ukraine aid from a funding bill month to avoid a government shutdown. This came as many Republicans expressed strong opposition to continued support for Kiev, citing a lack of strategic vision and accountability on the part of the Biden administration.
Musk has weighed in on the hostilities between Moscow and Kiev on numerous occasions, suggesting last month that he thought Ukraine’s much-hyped offensive was a failure, writing that there had been “so much death for so little.” Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that Kiev had lost more than 90,000 troops since the push began in early June.
The US billionaire also suggested this week that Washington was “sleepwalking” into World War III and that it should seek to normalize ties with Russia, including by pressuring Ukraine to sign a ceasefire with Moscow. The proposal met with a backlash in Kiev; Mikhail Podoliak, a senior aide to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, dismissed it as a “catastrophic mistake” that he said would surrender Ukraine to “mandatory large-scale genocide.”
