Elon Musk says 'no way in hell' Putin will lose Ukraine war as he demands US
Elon Musk has called for the US not to send Ukraine a $95 billion(£75,615,867,500) aid bill - as there is "no way in hell" that Vladimir Putin loses the war.
The billionaire claimed ahead of a critical Senate spending package vote, which includes $60billion(£47,759,400,000) for Ukraine, that "this spending does not help Ukraine."
Despite the bill passing in the early hours of Tuesday morning by 70 votes to 29 and seeing 22 Republicans vote with their Democrat rivals to approve the aid, the bill faces another challenge in the House of Representatives. Speaker Mike Johnson has already criticized the legislation which prompted Mr Musk to discuss the proposed bill on Twitter with Republican Senators JD Vance, of Ohio, and Ron Johnson, of Wisconsin. The pair are known to be sympathetic to former president Donald Trump.
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Elon Musk aired his views on Twitter (AFP via Getty Images)Mr Musk said he agreed with Mr Johnson who believes anyone expecting victory for Ukraine is "living in a fantasy world" before demanding senators "we gotta kill this thing (the bill)."
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Vivek Ramaswamy, a former Republican presidential candidate, also took part in the discussion along with David Sacks, a former PayPal entrepreneur and close acquaintance of Mr Musk. "This spending does not help Ukraine", the Tesla chief said, adding: "Prolonging the war does not help Ukraine."
The billionaire was forced to deny accusations that he is a Putin apologist saying it was “absurd” (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)He said he hoped Americans would contact their elected representatives about the bill. Musk said losing lives in a war "must be for a purpose" and "not just a mile here, a mile there", before adding: "There is no way in hell that Putin is going to lose."
Musk also suggested that if Putin backed off from the war then "he would be assassinated" and it could lead to an even more "hardcore" replacement.
The billionaire was forced to deny accusations that he is a Putin apologist saying it was "absurd", arguing that his companies "have probably done more to undermine Russia than anything."
It comes as about $60 billion(£47,759,400,000) in the bill would go to supporting Ukraine as it defends itself from the Russian invasion that began nearly two years ago. There's nearly $14 billion(£11,143,392,400) to allow Ukraine to rearm itself through the purchase of weapons and munitions and another nearly $15 billion(£11,939,550,000) for support services such as military training and intelligence sharing.
The support also includes nonmilitary assistance. About $8 billion(£6,367,760,000) would go to help Ukraine's government continue basic operations with a prohibition on money going toward pensions. And there's about $1.6 billion(£ 1,273,520,000) to help Ukraine's private sector.
About a third of the money allocated to supporting Ukraine actually will be spent replenishing the U.S. military with the weapons and equipment that are going to Ukraine. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has repeatedly emphasized that point, saying Friday that the money is about "rebuilding the arsenal of democracy and demonstrating to our allies and adversaries alike that we're serious about exercising American strength."
There's also about $480 million(£38,205,600,000) to help Ukrainians displaced by the war.
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