(FILES) In this file photo taken on February 10, 2022 Elon Musk gestures as he speaks during a press conference at SpaceX鈥檚 Starbase facility near Boca Chica Village in South Texas.聽(Photo by JIM WATSON / AFP)
WASHINGTON 鈥� Put up your dukes, Vlad.
Elon Musk, the world鈥檚 richest man, on Monday challenged Russian President Vladimir Putin to a fight, with nothing less than the fate of Ukraine, scene of Moscow鈥檚 brutal invasion, at stake.
The eccentric billionaire and founder of aerospace company SpaceX took to Twitter, where his messages are notoriously erratic, to see whether the Russian leader would test his mettle in person rather than through his country鈥檚 forces.
鈥淚 hereby challenge Vladimir Putin to single combat. Stakes are Ukraine,鈥� said Musk.
I hereby challenge
袙谢邪写懈屑懈褉 袩褍褌懈薪
to single combatStakes are 校泻褉邪褩薪邪
鈥� Elon Musk (@elonmusk)
鈥淒o you accept this fight?鈥� he added in Russian, directly addressing the official English-language Twitter account of the 69-year-old president.
When one of Musk鈥檚 77 million followers wrote that the Tesla founder might not have thought his challenge through, Musk said he was 鈥渁bsolutely serious.鈥�
鈥淚f Putin could so easily humiliate the west, then he would accept the challenge. But he will not,鈥� he added.
There was no immediate reaction from the Kremlin, but Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov posted a mocking response on Telegram, saying: 鈥淓lon Musk: I wouldn鈥檛 advise you to test your strength against Putin.鈥�
鈥淵our weight categories are too different,鈥� said Kadyrov.
The South African-born Musk, 50, had already offered his support for Kyiv, tweeting 鈥淗old strong Ukraine鈥� this month while also offering 鈥渕y sympathies to the great people of Russia, who do not want this鈥� war.
He also responded to a Kyiv plea by activating the and sending equipment to help bring connectivity to areas hit by Russian military attacks.
Musk often raises eyebrows on Twitter. In February, he accused the US stock market regulator, which had imposed fines and restrictions on Musk and Tesla, of trying to muzzle his free speech.
And he compared Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Adolf Hitler in a message supporting opponents of COVID restrictions. He later deleted the post.