A Sky News reporter just laid into Elon Musk after he was accused of foiling a Ukrainian attack on Russia.
Musk, CEO of SpaceX and X (formerly Twitter), has faced a backlash over claims he helped Russian president Vladimir Putin by thwarting a Ukrainian attack last year.
Ukrainian military forces intended to use Musk’s Starlink satellites for drone attacks on a Russian naval base last September, only to be blocked by the billionaire, a new biography has revealed.
But last week, Musk explained on X: “If I had agreed to their request, then SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation.”
Still, a Ukrainian official accused him of “ignorance and big ego” over his decision.
On Thursday morning, Sky News reporter James Matthews tried to speak to Musk just as he was leaving a meeting at the Federal Aviation Authority in Washington DC, US.
Matthews asked Musk: “Has your ignorance and ego cost Ukrainian lives, sir?
“A Ukrainian official says that you have enabled Vladimir Putin as an aggressor. What do you say to that?”
The tech mogul just ignored him and continued to walk on with his security detail.
Senior adviser to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Mykhailo Podolyak, hit out at Musk over the move last week.
He said the Russian fleet the Ukrainians had planned to attack were able to go on and “fire Kalibr missiles at Ukrainian cities.”
He posted on X: “As a result, civilians, children are being killed. This is the price of a cocktail of ignorance and big ego.”
So Matthews also squeezed in a reference to the Russian president, asking the billionaire: “Vladimir Putin calls you outstanding Mr Musk. Do you appreciate that? What would you call Vladimir Putin?”
Putin praised the Tesla and SpaceX boss on Tuesday, calling him a “talented businessman”.
A Reuters translation of Putin’s speech at the Eastern Economic Forum in Russia reads: “Elon Musk... is undoubtedly an outstanding person. It must be admitted. I think the whole world admits it.
“He is an active, talented businessman.”