Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk took aim at US President Joe Biden after he criticized Congress for not approving more aid for Kiev. According to the billionaire, the conflict between Ukraine and Russia should have ended by now.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday, Musk responded to Biden's comments during a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz earlier in the day. The president said it would be “outrageous” and amount to “criminal negligence” on the part of the US Congress if it did not continue to support Ukraine.
The United States has been struggling for months to approve new funding for Kiev amid opposition from Republicans who are demanding more money to secure America's southern border. Although Biden recently supported a $118 billion bill that allocated $60 billion to Ukraine, many GOP members opposed it, saying it did not do enough to address the border crisis.
In response to Biden's criticism of Ukraine in Congress, Musk said that “it is time to stop the meat grinder,” adding that “this should have been done a year ago.”
At the beginning of the week, the American billionaire also claimed that it was “crazy” to “send so much money to Ukraine without accountability and an endgame.”
Russia has repeatedly said it is open to peace talks with Kiev, but noted that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has banned any talks with the current Russian leadership. The president signed the ban in 2022 after four former Ukrainian regions voted overwhelmingly to join Russia.
Russia and Ukraine came close to settling the dispute in the spring of 2022, and according to Moscow, Ukrainian neutrality was a major item on the agenda. But Russian officials say the process was derailed by then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who advised Kiev to continue fighting, something Kiev denies.
In January, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that any talks to resolve the conflict should be held with the West, which he claimed had shown no interest in resolving the conflict.
