Alex Bruno
On Wednesday, a Ukrainian commander in Mariupol made a direct plea to Elon Musk, urging the wealthiest man in the world to intercede on behalf of civilians who are besieged by Russian troops in possession of the southern city. The conflict that has been going on for three months has wreaked havoc on the key port. However, Ukrainians have managed to maintain a pocket of resistance from inside the Azovstal steelworks, despite weeks of terrible fighting.
The commander of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade, Serhiy Volyna, has said that he established a Twitter account for the express purpose of communicating with Elon Musk. Volyna sent a tweet to Musk with the following message: “People claim you came from another planet to educate people to believe in the impossible.”
“Because I dwell in a place where it is almost hard to stay alive, our planets are in close proximity to one another. Please assist us in escaping from Azovstal to a nation that will act as a mediator. Who else could it be if not you?” He issued a plea to “every individual on the planet Earth” to assist him in ensuring that Musk’s appeal was seen. Earlier this week, the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv announced that more than one thousand of its soldiers, many of whom were injured, were still holed up in the sprawling Azovstal plant.
These soldiers were taking refuge in the complex network of bunkers and tunnels dating back to the Soviet era from the Russian forces that now control Mariupol. As part of a humanitarian effort that was managed by the United Nations and the Red Cross, women, children, and elderly people were removed from the besieged location.
According to the firm, Twitter has experienced a meteoric rise in the number of users as a direct result of the conflict in Ukraine, with individuals utilizing the social media site to locate news and support groups. Musk is reportedly interested in purchasing Twitter in a transaction of $44 billion.
Musk, who has more than 92 million followers, has used the platform in the past to issue a “single battle” challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the situation in Ukraine. Last month, in response to a request for internet service from the Ukrainian government, the chief executive officer of Tesla, who was born in South Africa, activated his Starlink satellite broadband service and sent equipment to help bring connectivity to areas that had been hit by Russian military attacks.
Source: NDTV
