Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave an interview to Jan Böhmermann, host of the German satirical program “ZDF Magazin Royale,” in which he sharply criticized SpaceX owner Elon Musk and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The full recording of the conversation appeared on ZDF’s streaming platform and YouTube on November 4, while the program will air on the broadcaster on Friday, November 6, at 11 p.m. local time.
Answering a question about the richest people on the planet, Zelensky could not resist taking a jab at the Kremlin chief.
“Elon Musk is the richest person in the world, they say. And who is the second-richest? Putin. Or perhaps Putin is the richest. I don’t know. It is frightening,” Zelensky said. The Russian president’s wealth has not been officially disclosed, but Ukrainian officials and Western media have repeatedly said that Putin’s actual assets are many times greater than those he has declared.
Musk was one of the central topics of the interview. In its preview, ZDF highlighted that Böhmermann asked the Ukrainian leader about the “technological oligarch’s” influence on U.S. politics. Zelensky thanked SpaceX for the satellite communications that, he said, had greatly helped Ukraine at the beginning of the war, but added: “Of course, we do not like his position on this war.”
“He is a citizen of another country”
Zelensky’s main criticism of the billionaire concerned his attempts to influence political processes outside the United States. The Ukrainian president recalled Musk’s comments about how Europe should live, who should lead Germany and who should be in power in Ukraine.
“I believe that Elon Musk’s influence, what he says in his posts, what he thinks about how Europe should live, who should play a leading role in Germany and who should be in power in Ukraine — these are not just words. When they come from a very wealthy person, they have influence. And he has no right to influence these matters. He is a citizen of another country,” Zelensky said.
Musk has repeatedly intervened in European politics in recent years. Ahead of Germany’s early elections in February 2025, he openly supported the Alternative for Germany party. In mid-October 2026, Kyiv Post reported, Musk said that Zelensky should step down after Kyiv expressed dissatisfaction with restrictions on U.S. satellite services.
The Starlink controversy
Relations between Kyiv and SpaceX deteriorated sharply in October. On the night of October 14, restrictions on Starlink’s operation, according to the Ukrainian side, disrupted the work of interceptor drones used by Ukraine’s armed forces to shoot down Russian Shahed attack drones. On October 24, Musk acknowledged that SpaceX had restricted the service and accused the Ukrainian military of violating the commercial terms of use, including by using terminals for attack drones. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry rejected the accusations, and Kyiv later said that Starlink and the military version, Starshield, had been fully restored.
In an interview with U.S. broadcaster PBS that aired on November 2, Zelensky said that at the very beginning of the war Musk had maintained communications with both him and Putin, while SpaceX had not contacted Kyiv after the October restrictions. In the new ZDF interview, the Ukrainian leader also criticized the billionaire’s jokes about the war.
“We do not like his attitude toward this war, when he talks about Russia losing soldiers. The aggressor — thank God they are losing soldiers who are on foreign territory, not on their own land. I do not know whether he is serious when he jokes or not. These are not jokes I can understand, although I understand jokes very well,” said Zelensky, who was himself a professional comedian in the past.
“It is dangerous when all power is in one person’s hands”
Böhmermann asked Zelensky how he viewed the fact that a person as wealthy as Musk wielded such power. The Ukrainian president’s answer became a reflection on the principles of democracy.
“When so much power is concentrated in the hands of a very wealthy person, that is dangerous. Concentrating power in the hands of one person who does not have that much money is also dangerous. That is the whole point of the separation of powers: so that everything is not concentrated in the hands of one person,” Zelensky explained.
Putin, by contrast, called Musk a “genius” at the end of October and said that Russia maintained close contact with its American partners, including Musk, so that the two countries’ satellites would not interfere with one another.
Hope for the Democrats
The interview was Zelensky’s first public appearance after the U.S. midterm elections, in which the Democratic Party won a decisive victory, ZDF noted. The Ukrainian leader hopes that the new balance of power in Congress will bring Kyiv more support.
“We have bipartisan support, support from both parties. I am grateful to the Republicans as well. But the Democrats speak very clearly about supporting and helping Ukraine. They speak about restoring ties between the United States and Europe, which have been somewhat lost in recent years. And that is very important to us,” Zelensky said. In his words, if Congress were to discuss strong financial and military support, as Europe is doing today, it would be a positive factor that would influence Putin.
In addition to politics, Böhmermann asked his guest about his unusual path from comedian to president of a country at war, as well as about British singer James Blunt and the ski resort of Ischgl.
Video: ZDF Magazin Royale / social media. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
