Ukraine Hits Back at Elon Musk Over Meme Taunting Zelensky

An edited meme Elon Musk posted on X, formerly Twitter, of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky drew a storm of criticism Monday, including from Ukrainian officials.

The tech billionaire's meme appeared to show a doctored image of Zelensky's face on someone else's body. In the photo, Zelensky looks anxious and appears to be leaning forward while sitting at a desk in a classroom. "When it's been 5 minutes and you haven't asked for a billion dollars in aid," the meme's caption said, an apparent reference to Ukraine's calls for international aid as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues.

Musk posted the meme Sunday evening but did not post any text to accompany it.

The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliamentary body, posted an altered meme of its own on X that appeared to be in response to Musk's posted meme. The Ukrainian parliament's X account has since deleted the post, though screenshots were shared on social media in the hours that followed.

The meme shared by the Ukrainian parliament shows the same image as Musk's meme, but this time Musk's face appears to have been pasted on top of another person's body. The meme includes the caption: "When it's been 5 minutes and you haven't spread russian [sic] propaganda."

Ruslan Stefanchuk, Verkhovna Rada chairman, posted a direct response to Musk on X. Stefanchuk's post was still viewable as of 7 p.m. ET Monday.

"The case when a dude @elonmusk tried to conquer space, but something went wrong and in 5 minutes he was up to his eyeballs in [s***]," Stefanchuk's post said.

Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to Zelensky's office, also touched upon Russian propaganda in a post on X that other X users interpreted to be in response to Musk's meme. "Any support for Russia today is a direct investment in war, genocide, destruction of the free world, escalation and the right to impunity. Any silence or irony towards Ukraine today is a direct encouragement of Russian propaganda that justifies mass violence and destruction," Podolyak's post said in part.

"Elon, don't you have empathy?" tweeted Mariana Betsa, spokesperson for Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "Ukrainians are killed daily by Russia. We are fighting for our lives, for our families, for our country, for our freedom."

Musk has made comments in the past that drew the attention of Ukrainian officials, including Zelensky. About one year ago, he put forth a four-point Russia-Ukraine peace plan that would have involved "formally" making Crimea a part of Russia. At the time, Zelensky responded by posting a poll on X asking his followers which version of Musk they preferred: the Musk who supports Russia or the Musk who supports Ukraine. Ukraine won the poll, with 78.8 percent of the votes.

Newsweek reached out to the Ukrainian parliament via email on Monday for comment.