NEW YORK, June 27. /TASS/. US-based billionaire and celebrity entrepreneur Elon Musk, founder of Tesla and SpaceX as well as owner of Twitter, has characterized as "insane and cruel" recent remarks by US Senator Lindsey Graham that "Russians are dying" in the Ukraine conflict and that this outcome represented the "best money <…> ever spent" by Washington.

"[Saying such a thing] was insane and cruel of him," Musk wrote on Twitter in response to a post by US tech investor David Sacks with his comments on a video showing celebrating Russian youth gleefully singing the song "I am Russian" by the singer Shaman, in which Sacks pointed out that the video showed "the maximum number of just such people" that Graham suggested killing.

Earlier, the Ukrainian side published a video showing Graham, at a meeting with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, saying that US aid to Kiev was "the best money we've ever spent" because "Russians are dying" in the conflict in Ukraine. Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the senator’s words "an embarrassment to the United States," while Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated that such a thesis about Russians dying "has been enshrined in the United States for a long time already." Reuters reported after reading a full transcript of the meeting that the US senator’s remarks may have been taken out of context. However, the Russian Foreign Ministry characterized such findings as ridiculous and shameful excuses.

Zakharova suggested that Graham record a short video of his position regarding his phrase about Russians dying spoken at his meeting with Zelensky. According to Zakharova, the US and British media are now trying to convince Russia that "Senator Graham's statement was allegedly taken out of context, even specially edited by the Kiev regime." The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman pointed out that not a single word in condemnation of Kiev has been heard.