Elon Musk Challenges Putin to ‘Single Combat’ Duel for Ukraine
Elon Musk threw down the gauntlet in a tweet addressed to Russian president Vladimir Putin when the billionaire bizarrely challenged him to a "single combat" duel — with the fate of Ukraine on the line.
"I hereby challenge [Vladimir Putin] to single combat," Musk wrote on Twitter. "Stakes are [Ukraine]."
Insider notes that several of the words in Musk's original tweet were written in Cyrillic script.
A second tweet was directly addressed to the Russian president's Twitter account. According to Insider, this one was written in Russian. Their translation reads: "Do you agree to this fight?"
Check out Musk's initial tweets below:
The SpaceX owner doubled down in a series of follow-up messages that were written in both English and Russian.
"I am absolutely serious," Musk responded to a user who questioned him.
"It would be an honor," he replied in Russian to someone who asked how he would respond if Putin somehow accepted his offer.
His tweets do not seem to have attracted the attention of Putin. However, they have been noticed by countless others.
Mykhailo Fedorov, the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, tweeted his support. "I am sure that [Elon Musk] can send Putin to Jupiter."
Meanwhile, Complex reports that Dmitry Rogozin — who is involved with Russia's Rosocosmos space program — also replied. He quoted a piece of literature that seemingly implied Musk was too "weak to compete."
Musk honed in and replied in true troll fashion by sharing a meme of himself and Putin facing off. In it, Putin rides a bear while Musk defends himself with a flame gun. "Chose your fighter," the meme encourages.
He also taunted Rogozin by implying the fight could be televised with viewers paying to tune in.
Musk's confrontational tweets come after he shared several memes about Russia's invasion of its neighboring country Ukraine.
The memes (seen below) raise almost as many questions as his proposal of a duel with Putin does.
Although the tech mogul's latest tweets caused confusion on social media, it's worth pointing out that Musk has actually shown support to Ukraine in several real ways since the invasion began.
Bloomberg notes that he provided the country with access to internet via his Starlink program. The publication points out that he also previously voiced support for the country on Twitter and spoke out about Russians who do not support the unjust war, too.