Elon Musk Says 'Avoiding' World War III is the 'Most Important Issue'

Elon Musk warned the Israel-Hamas and Ukraine-Russia wars are inching civilization closer to the potential of World War III.

The tech billionaire called avoiding World War III the "most important issue" in a live discussion on his social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

"World War III is a civilizational risk that we may not recover from," Musk said in the Monday talk, titled, "Where is Israel-Hamas war headed? Could this lead to WW3?" About 990,000 listeners tuned in for the conversation as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the platform.

"So we need to prioritize avoiding World War III, that's what actually matters," Musk continued. "And not, as happened in World War I, have a regional conflict rapidly become a global conflict. That could happen again where things cascade out of control. Before you know it, you've got a massive global conflict with devastation that far exceeds WWI or WWII."

Musk also suggested the U.S. restore relations with Russia while calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine. Hours after the discussion, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak wrote a long post on X, explaining that Musk is correct when speaking about Russian "aggression" having a "universal, civilization-wide destructive character."

However, Podolyak pushed back against Ukraine "surrendering" as "withdrawal of support for Ukraine will certainly not end the war, but it will inevitably lead to a sharp increase in conflicts worldwide, the demise of the international law era, the collapse of the international economy, and the triumph of evil forces."

"All of this will culminate in a Great War on different continents, in which, in such a scenario, American citizens may likely have to participate," Podolyak continued on X.

The 1 hour, 45-minute talk was hosted by tech entrepreneur David Sacks and included various speakers, including Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. The entrepreneur addressed ways in which he believes the U.S. is fostering a growing alliance between Russia, China and Iran, including recent comments made by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

He also argued that NATO's consideration of admitting Ukraine into the growing Western alliance is among the catalysts "driving Russia further into China's arms." Ramaswamy previously said he would want Musk as an adviser, should he be elected to the White House.

Newsweek reached out to foreign defense experts via email for further insight.