Musk urges Congress to block Ukraine bill

Speaking to pro-trump Republicans before the vote, Tesla’s CEO said there is ‘no way’ Putin will lose

‘This spending does not help Ukraine. Prolonging the war does not help Ukraine’

‘There has been no change in the Russia-Ukraine border for a year, just lots of dead kids’

ELON MUSK urged Republicans to oppose a Ukraine aid bill because “there is no way in Hell” that Vladimir Putin could lose the war.

Speaking ahead of a Senate vote on a £75billion ($95 billion) spending package, which includes £47.6billion ($60 billion) for Ukraine, Mr Musk denounced the proposition claiming “this spending does not help Ukraine”. The bill passed in the early hours of yesterday morning with 70 votes to 29, after an all-night session which saw 22 Republicans vote with Democrats to approve it. The bill now faces an uphill battle in the House of Representatives, where Speaker Mike Johnson has denounced it.

Mr Musk discussed the bill on X Spaces, part of his social media platform formerly known as Twitter, with GOP senators Ron Johnson and JD Vance, both sympathetic to Donald Trump.

Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, tipped as Mr Trump’s possible running mate, also took part in the discussion along with David Sacks, a former Paypal entrepreneur and close friend of Mr Musk.

Mr Musk’s comments are his latest intervention into politics, as he increasingly leans towards the Republicans in what could have major implications for the election and the war in Ukraine. Mr Musk agreed with Mr Johnson that anyone who expected victory for Ukraine is “living in a fantasy world”, before urging “we gotta kill this thing [the bill]”.

“This spending does not help Ukraine”, said Mr Musk, adding: “Prolonging the war does not help Ukraine,” and said he hoped Amercians would contact their elected representatives about the bill. He also said “there is no way in hell that Putin is going to lose.” The billionaire also suggested that if Putin backed off from the war “he would be assassinated” and replaced by an even more “hardcore” replacement.

Meanwhile, Mr Musk said accusations that he is a Putin apologist are “absurd”, arguing his companies “have probably done more to undermine Russia than anything”. His firm, Spacex, has provided Starlink internet service to Ukraine and detracted business from Russia’s space industry.

Ukraine claimed this week that Russia has skirted sanctions to supply Starlink to its troops on the front line. Last week Putin referred to Mr Musk as a “smart person” during his controversial sit-down with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

Responding to a Tweet from a Washington Post columnist who criticised Mr Musk’s call to action as “shameful”, the Tesla boss said: “There has been no change in the Russia-ukraine border for a year, just lots of dead kids. What kind of psycho wants that to continue?”

Mr Johnson preemptively rejected the bill on Monday night because of its failure to address border security.

Joe Biden, the US President, urged Republican house speaker Mike Johnson to bring the bill to the floor “immediately”, and to “not allow a minority of the most extreme voices in the house to block this bill even from being voted on”. He added: “For Republicans in Congress who think they can oppose funding for Ukraine and not be held accountable – history is watching. Failure to support Ukraine at this critical moment will not be forgotten.”