Political scientist links Zelensky's harsh words toward Musk to the Democrats' victory in the Congressional elections

A spat against the backdrop of new alignments in Congress

Volodymyr Zelensky moved to an open verbal spat with Elon Musk because the Democrats won the US Congressional elections. Political scientist and Americanist Konstantin Blokhin presented this version to Gazeta.Ru. According to him, the balance of power has changed, and now the Ukrainian leader will act in the same vein not only with Musk but also in negotiations.

What exactly the analyst claims

Blokhin believes that Zelensky is pleased with the strengthening of the Democrats in both chambers of Congress, which, in his view, will block 'many initiatives' of Donald Trump, including those concerning Ukraine. In response, the president, according to the analyst's scenario, will begin vetoing the Democrats' bills. At the same time, Blokhin recalled the mechanics of overriding a veto: Congress can do so by gaining two-thirds of the votes. This is the expert's assessment cited by the outlet, not a confirmed fact about the future actions of the parties.

The reason for the statement and the chronology of the conflict

Zelensky's statement itself is that the head of SpaceX has no right to give advice to Kyiv and Brussels: being a very wealthy man, Musk has enormous influence but should not use it, as he is a citizen of another country. Tension between the two figures began to grow in October: on October 10, the entrepreneur stated that 'it is time for Ukraine to find a new leader,' thus reacting to Trump's words that Zelensky 'could have settled this conflict many times and chose not to.' The slowdown of Starlink and the businessman's calls for the Ukrainian president's resignation were also cited as reasons for the escalation. Earlier, Musk responded to Zelensky over the improper use of Starlink.