Elon Musk says Russia 'will certainly gain more land' in Ukraine

• Elon Musk predicted Russia would gain more land in the ongoing Ukraine war.

• Musk said he believed Ukraine should focus on defending its territory instead of attacking.

• Musk's SpaceX initially sent thousands of Starlink terminals to Ukraine, but relations have since cooled.

Elon Musk weighed in on the Russia-Ukraine war on Saturday, saying that he believed Russia would "certainly gain more land than they have today."

Replying to a post on X, formerly Twitter, about the war, Musk said: "It was a tragic waste of life for Ukraine to attack a larger army that had defense in depth, minefields and stronger artillery when Ukraine lacked armor or air superiority! Any fool could have predicted that."

He said he had recommended a year ago that Ukraine apply all of its resources to defending its territory rather than trying to attack Russian forces.

"There is no chance of Russia taking all of Ukraine, as the local resistance would be extreme in the west, but Russia will certainly gain more land than they have today," Musk wrote.

He added that he thought that a prolonged war could even see Russian forces take the port city Odesa on the Black Sea, also noting that, in his view, the big question was whether Ukraine would lose access to the Black Sea.

"I recommend a negotiated settlement before that happens," he said.

Several people responded to Musk, criticizing his take and his use of the Russian transliterations of "Odesa" and "Dnipro."

Elon Musk's SpaceX sent Ukraine "thousands" of terminals for the company's Starlink satellite internet service when Russia first invaded.

Ukraine said last year that there were roughly 42,000 terminals in use by a variety of organizations, including the military and hospitals, Reuters reported.

But Musk has since taken to X to seemingly mock Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for his efforts to secure aid from the US.

Musk has also revealed that in 2022, he denied Kyiv's request to activate Starlink near Russian-annexed Crimea, where Ukraine was planning an attack on Russia's navy, as he feared making SpaceX "explicitly complicit in a major act of war."

Ukrainian intelligence has since claimed to have evidence that Russian forces are using Starlink in occupied areas of the country.

SpaceX said in a statement that it "does not do business of any kind with the Russian Government or its military."

House Democrats earlier this month said they were investigating SpaceX over whether Russia has accessed Starlink.

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