Elon Musk slapped down after calling for Ukraine-Russia truce over Putin’s struggle
The X (Twitter) and Tesla boss was criticised by Alica Kearns, chair of the influential Commons overseas affairs committee.
With tens of 1000’s of Ukrainian and Russian soldiers having died within the battle, he messaged: “Both sides should agree to a truce.
“Every day that passes, more Ukrainian and Russian youth die to gain and lose small pieces of land, with borders barely changing. This is not worth their lives.”
But Conservative MP Ms Kearns responded: “Wrong.
“Your home was not illegaly invaded.
“It is not your people being massacred, raped, tortured and castrated.
“It is not your children being kidnapped in what increasingly appears to meet the definition of genocide.”
Britain’s safety minister Tom Tugendhat added: “When you withdraw help from the victims you don’t make peace, you’re siding with the oppressor.”
Musk’s intervention got here amid issues in Ukraine that key political figures in America may pile strain on Kyiv to attempt to negotiate an finish to the battle with Putin forward of the US presidential election subsequent yr, which might virtually definitely contain surrendering swathes of its territory.
Ukraine has bristled at what critics within the US media have described as its summer season counter-offensive’s gradual tempo and questionable techniques.
Amid the tensions, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken hailed “very, very encouraging progress” on the army marketing campaign throughout talks in Kyiv on Wednesday.
Amid widespread combating on the frontline, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky singled out army models within the east and south for his or her actions towards Russian troops and different officers reported some breakthroughs.
The common employees of Ukraine’s armed forces described a “partial success” close to the jap city of Bakhmut, lengthy a focus of combating. And it mentioned Ukrainian troops have been making gradual progress of their southward advance to the Sea of Azov.
Russian accounts of the combating mentioned their troops had overwhelmed again Ukrainian assaults close to Bakhmut.
Mr Zelensky, in his nightly video deal with on Thursday, offered few particulars of operations.
“Thank you soldiers for very, very effective results in destroying the occupiers,” he mentioned. “And results are precisely what Ukraine needs now from everyone.”
One nationwide guard unit combating within the east and two within the south he talked about included the twelfth brigade, which has troopers of the Azov brigade who final yr defended the Azovstal metal works within the besieged metropolis of Mariupol. Military analysts mentioned they’d been holding Ukrainian positions within the northeast.
The common employees report mentioned: “As a result of its assault operations, the defence forces have achieved a partial success south of Bakhmut, pushing the enemy out of and reinforcing their own positions.”
Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar advised nationwide tv that Ukrainian forces have been urgent their drive southward from the village of Robotyne, captured final week.
She claimed that on the southern entrance, the place Ukrainian forces are attempting to sever a land bridge established by Russia between the Crimean peninsula Russia annexed in 2014, and the occupied east, “events are developing rapidly”.
Russia’s Defence Ministry, in its studies on the combating, mentioned Moscow’s forces had repelled 9 tried Ukrainian advances close to the village of Klishchiivka, a village on heights south of Bakhmut seen as important to securing management of the city.
A Russian missile slammed right into a police constructing within the central Ukrainian metropolis of Kryvyi Rih on Friday, killing a policeman and injuring many extra individuals, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko mentioned.
The police administrative constructing was destroyed and rescue staff pulled a number of individuals out of the rubble after the assault on Mr Zelensky’s hometown, Mr Klymenko added.
He put the variety of wounded at 25. In a later replace, Regional governor Serhiy Lysak mentioned about 40 had been wounded.
Ukraine’s emergency providers mentioned three individuals had been damage within the Sumy area and posted a video displaying rescuers pulling out an injured lady from a gap brought on by the explosion.
It mentioned in an announcement that the 65-year-old lady and a 70-year-old man have been rescued after a two-storey residential constructing was broken.
Russia additionally carried out its fifth drone assault this week on the southern Odesa area, dwelling to Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea and Danube River which are used to export grain and different agricultural merchandise.
Russia has intensified air assaults on Ukrainian grain export infrastructure on the Danube River and within the port of Odesa since mid-July, when Moscow give up the UN and Turkey-brokered deal that allowed protected Ukrainian grain exports by way of the Black Sea.
“During the night the Russian terrorists attacked the Odesa region for the fifth time this week,” Oleh Kiper, the Odesa regional governor, mentioned on the Telegram messaging app.
Officials mentioned air defences shot down 16 of the 20 drones fired by Russia in a single day – the Southern army command mentioned 14 drones had been introduced down over Odesa area and two extra over the southern area of Mykolaiv.