Musk owns SpaceX, which provides Starlink satellite communication services that are vital for Ukraine\u2019s defence effort, but his statements have sometimes angered Kyiv since the full-scale invasion launched by Russia in February last year.<\/p>\n
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Elon Musk, CEO of X.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>AP<\/cite><\/p>\n Early on Monday, Musk posted a meme on his platform X, formerly known as Twitter, showing Zelensky and the caption: \u201cWhen it\u2019s been 5 minutes and you haven\u2019t asked for a billion dollars in aid.\u201d<\/p>\n The Ukrainian leader and his top lieutenants have appealed to their allies throughout the war to secure billions of dollars of military aid to weather and push back Russia\u2019s invasion.<\/p>\n The speaker of Ukraine\u2019s parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, hit out at Musk\u2019s jibe with his own post on X.<\/p>\n \u201cThe case when …(Elon Musk) tried to conquer space, but something went wrong and in 5 minutes he was up to his eyeballs in shit,\u201d an apparent reference to SpaceX\u2019s failed rocket launch in April.<\/p>\n Ukraine\u2019s parliament, on its official page on X, accused Musk of spreading Russian propaganda, posting its own version of the meme with a picture of Musk and the caption: \u201cWhen it\u2019s been 5 minutes and you haven\u2019t spread Russian propaganda\u201d.<\/p>\n A Ukrainian presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, who has criticised some of Musk\u2019s statements in the past, said in a post on X that being silent or ironic about Ukraine played into the hands of Russian propaganda.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, not everyone and not always, while being significant media figures, but being thousands of kilometres away from the war\u2019s epicentre, is able to realise what the daily bombardments and cries of children losing their parents are.\u201d<\/p>\n Ukrainian officials criticised Musk earlier in the war for suggesting that they should consider giving up land for peace, a position that Kyiv has staunchly rejected.<\/p>\n Zelensky visited the United States in September and met top officials in a bid to secure further aid. Over the weekend, aid for Ukraine was omitted from a stopgap funding measure passed by US Congress to avert a US government shutdown.<\/p>\n The US has been the largest single donor to Ukraine since Russia\u2019s full invasion last year, giving tens of billions of dollars in military and financial aid.<\/p>\n