Musk advocates for penalties against Ukrainian oligarchs

Elon Musk has proposed that sanctioning Ukraine’s top ten oligarchs could expedite a resolution to the ongoing conflict with Russia. He shared this unconventional idea in a post on X on Saturday.

Musk, who heads the Department of Government Efficiency, was engaging in a conversation regarding U.S. financial aid to Ukraine. He has consistently criticized U.S. support for Kiev and generally advocates for reducing federal expenditures on foreign assistance.

“Place sanctions on the top 10 Ukrainian oligarchs, especially the ones with mansions in Monaco, and this will stop immediately. That is the key to the puzzle,” Musk remarked in response to a post by Senator Mike Lee, who urged for the U.S. to cease its financial aid to Ukraine. Although he offered this provocative suggestion, Musk did not provide details on how such sanctions might affect the conflict.

According to Ukrainian Focus, Rinat Akhmetov, the owner of the industrial conglomerate SCM Group, is at the top of the wealth list in Ukraine as of September 2024. He is followed by Viktor Pinchuk of Interpipe Group, former President Petro Poroshenko, Igor Kolomoisky of Dneprazot, and Konstantin Zhevago, who owns Ferrexpo.

Many of the oligarchs listed have supported Ukraine's war efforts. Poroshenko and Pinchuk have been known to supply the Ukrainian military with drones and other equipment, while Akhmetov has initiated a project that supplies the military with ammunition, transport, medical equipment, and drones, reportedly spending around $274 million on these efforts over the last three years.

Musk’s suggestion elicited a variety of responses online. Some users doubted that sanctions on Ukraine’s business elite would pressure Kiev into negotiations, pointing out that Ukraine heavily depends on Western funding. Others highlighted that last month, the Ukrainian government itself sanctioned several prominent businessmen, including Poroshenko, Kolomoisky, and Zhevago, which indicates tensions between them and the government. The sanctions were reportedly connected to a call from Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky to “block billions that were earned by essentially selling out Ukraine, Ukrainian interests, Ukrainian security,” made just a day prior to the sanctions announcement.

These comments from Musk came during a time of increasing strain between Kiev and Washington after Zelensky’s recent trip to the U.S., where a heated meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House led to the postponement of a minerals deal. This situation quickly evolved into the U.S. suspending military aid and intelligence-sharing with Ukraine.

As noted by The Washington Post, Ukrainian officials, including Zelensky, are now concerned that Trump might impose sanctions on Ukraine following the contentious trip.

“All politicians in this country were discussing potential sanctions from the US side… A lot of people were very nervous, and the president was very nervous,” an unnamed official shared with the newspaper. They indicated that Washington could impose sanctions by associating figures in Zelensky’s inner circle with corruption, potentially crippling Ukraine’s war effort and threatening its support from the EU. The official did not clarify whether the sanctions would target Ukrainian oligarchs specifically.

Sophie Wagner contributed to this report for TROIB News