In what is an extremely bizarre move, Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk has challenged Russian President Vladimir Putin to one-on-one combat in order to decide the future of Ukraine.
As with many of Musk's outlandish statements, he made this one on Twitter, tweeting:
"I hereby challenge Vladimir Putin to single combat. Stakes are Ukraine."
He then went on to say that he was 'absolutely serious' about the proposal.
Adding in another tweet directed at Putin written in Russian that said:
"Do you agree to this fight?"
While some have applauded Musk's actions as brave, others have made clear that they found the statement immature, crass and offensive, and that Musk was once again gaining publicity at a time when thousands of people were dying and millions more were suffering amid the brutal invasion, the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II.
Musk has already played a part in the Ukraine conflict by providing Starlink satellites that will help provide internet access in Ukraine should major infrastructure be further damaged. The provision of the satellites came after a direct appeal by Mykhailo Fedorov, the Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, who asked Musk on twitter:
"We ask you to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations and to address sane Russians to stand."
Others who were evaluating Musk's strange behaviour, also wondered why the people of Ukraine or Russia would abide by any result of a Musk-Putin fight, or if Musk, though considerably younger than Putin but with no known combat experience, would actually be able to defeat Putin who is a former KGB agent and very likely trained in deadly hand-to-hand combat.
This posturing by Musk is not the first time such a challenge has been laid down. Prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq by US and coalition forces, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein directly challenged then US President George W. Bush to a one-on-one fight to the death in order to settle their disagreements and prevent a wider conflict. Mr. Bush declined the offer.
[Based on reporting by: MSN]
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