Come to Ukraine to see horrors first hand, former president tells Elon Musk after he offers 'solution' to war

6 October 2022, 18:41 | Updated: 6 October 2022, 19:02

President Poroshenko tells Elon Musk 'come to Kyiv'.

A former president of Ukraine has challenged Elon Musk to visit Ukraine with him after the billionaire Tesla owner offered a 'solution' to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The world's richest man posted a four-point plan to Twitter, which included allowing Crimea to be part of Russia.

Speaking on LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr, Petro Poroshenko - who was president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019 - urged Mr Musk to either stick to working on Tesla or visit the wore-torn country himself.

"Please - work on Tesla," he said, when Andrew asked what his message was to people, including Mr Musk, calling for a compromise with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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"Don't give piece of advice to Ukraine on how we can save our lives.

"Or - come to Kyiv.

"Go with me to Kherson.

"Go with me to Kharkiv region.

"Meet with the people which were under the occupations.

"See their tears and... how they happy that Ukrainians have returned.

"And speak about the compromise with them.

"I think you will learn one of the most important lessons in your life."

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He then told Mr Musk to "concentrate on the Starlink" - the Musk-owned communication system - saying it "can help me and us".

"Concentrate on the Starlink and Tesla, don't say one single word about Ukraine [unless you visit]," he said.

Andrew Marr interviews former President of Ukraine Poroshenko

He then offered his own plan for defeating Putin.

"Point number one - don't trust Putin" he said.

"If he [threatens] a danger, this means nothing.

"Don't trust Putin.

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"Point number two - please don't be afraid of Putin.

"Learn from the Ukrainian armed forces.

"And point number three - keep Putin in isolation."

When he was asked what would happen if Putin used a nuclear weapon in Ukraine, he said nuclear threats were the next step up from blocking Ukrainian ports and "trying to blackmail the world with energy".

"First of all, this is the way of thinking, way of acting, [for] Mr Putin," he said.

"I know him very well. And only during the last seven months of the war he tried to blackmail the world with the... blocking Ukrainian black sea port for exporting the grain.

He then said nuclear weapons "would be a gesture of suicide for Putin, Putin would never use it".