Billionaire Elon Musk has come under heavy criticism for asking his more than 107 million Twitter followers to weigh in on his proposal to end the war in Ukraine under which Ukraine would cede Crimea, allow new referendums on Russian-occupied land, and agree to neutrality.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO made his arguments in a series of tweets that in addition to proposing that Ukraine drop a bid to join NATO, said Russia should be allowed to keep the Crimean Peninsula, which it seized in 2014.
Musk also suggested that four regions Russia moved to illegally annex following Kremlin-orchestrated referendums denounced by the West as "sham" votes should repeat them under UN supervision.
As part of his proposal Musk launched a Twitter poll asking whether "the will of the people" should decide if seized regions remain part of Ukraine or become part of Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who has pledged to recover all the territory captured by Russia in the war and reclaim Crimea, responded by posting a Twitter poll of his own asking users to vote for "which @elonmusk do you like more?" "One who supports Ukraine" or "One who supports Russia."
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba denounced Musk's proposal as rewarding Russia for its invasion.
"Those who propose Ukraine to give up on its people and land -- presumably not to hurt [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's bruised ego or to save Ukraine from suffering -- must stop using word 'peace' as an euphemism to 'let Russians murder and rape thousands more innocent Ukrainians, and grab more land,'" Kuleba tweeted.
Musk replied to Zelenskiy that he still "very much" supported Ukraine, but said he was "convinced that massive escalation of the war will cause great harm to Ukraine and possibly the world."
The billionaire businessman said in another tweet that Russia would "go to full war mobilization if Crimea is at risk" and the "death on both sides will be devastating," noting that Russia has a population more than three times that of Ukraine, making victory for Ukraine unlikely.
"If you care about the people of Ukraine, seek peace," he said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded by saying it was "very positive that somebody like Elon Musk is looking for a peaceful way out of this situation" but warned that Russia will not backtrack on its move to absorb the Ukrainian regions.
Ukraine and the West have said that the hastily organized votes in four occupied or partially occupied regions last month were rigged and have condemned them as illegal.
Many Twitter users, including Russian chess champion and anti-Putin political activist Garry Kasparov, bashed Musk's plan.
"This is moral idiocy, repetition of Kremlin propaganda, a betrayal of Ukrainian courage and sacrifice, and puts a few minutes browsing Crimea on Wikipedia over the current horrific reality of Putin's bloody war," Kasparov tweeted.