Elon Musk has sensationally revealed that the cyberattack which took down his social media app X on Monday seemingly originated in Ukraine.
His bombshell revelation followed repeated glitches with his site, which has been down for much of the day.
‘Well, we don’t we’re not sure exactly what happened,’ Musk told Fox Business Network on Monday afternoon.
‘But there was a massive cyber attack to try to bring down the X system with IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area.
Musk had confirmed earlier in the day that X was being targeted by a ‘massive cyberattack.’
The world’s richest man noted during the interview that the social media sight is now back up and running.
The statement came after the platform has been down for users worldwide. Users have cited issues with the app and website since as early as 5:30am ET.
Musk shared on X that the hack involves so many resources that he believes it could only be the work of a ‘coordinated group’ or a foreign country.
X owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed in an interview Monday afternoon that he is still not sure exactly why his social media platform went down on Monday, though he shared that IP addresses based out of Ukraine were involved in the apparent sabotage
Elon Musk confirmed that his X platform was a victim of a ‘massive cyberattack’
X was down for users worldwide on Monday. Tens of thousands of users reported issues
His comments during his TV interview Monday afternoon appear to confirm that concern.
Musk did not offer any other details on the attack which has impacted the app’s 600 million active monthly users.
Dark Storm Team, a hacking group, took credit for the attack, according to post on X Monday afternoon.
Cybersecurity group SpyoSecure claimed that they spoke to the leader of Dark Storm Team, who revealed that they initiated a DDOS attack on X.
A DDOS attack is essentially a traffic jam on the internet, caused on purpose to shut websites down.
In these attacks the hacker sends thousands or even millions of fake visitors (bots) to flood the site.
This causes the site gets so overwhelmed that it slows down or completely crashes, making it impossible for real users to get onto X.
Many users have been left unable to log in to their accounts, while others reported the site will not load to shows posts.
Elon Musk (L) sits for an interview with Fox Business Network’s Larry Kudlow
Those already logged in on the app and website have been presented with the message: ‘Something went wrong, try reloading.’
Downdetector, a site that tracks websites that go down, shows that tens of thousands of users have reported issues with X.
At 10 am ET on Monday, over 40,000 users reported issues with the social media site.
As of 5 pm ET, however, only about 1,000 users reported having problems, meaning engineers at X had seemingly been able to get the attack under control.
The revelation that the cyberattack has connections to Ukraine comes at a tenuous moment for the U.S. and the warring eastern European county.
Last month, President Donald Trump called Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky a ‘dictator.’ A subsequent Oval Office meeting between the two disastrously descended into acrimony.
Zelensky was accused by Trump, and Vice President J.D. Vance, of warmongering, not wanting to make peace, and not being grateful enough for U.S. military and financial support.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Donald Trump during a tenuous Oval Office meeting on February 28. After this meeting, Trump kicked the Ukrainian out of the White House
Zelensky has been frequently criticized by Musk, who just last week suggested the Ukrainian leader needed amnesty after fighting Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin began the war by invading Ukraine in 2022
He was expelled from the White House and a proposed minerals deal between Washington and Kyiv remained unsigned.
While Republicans in the U.S. supported Trump’s actions, and criticized Zelensky’s behavior, the encounter led to a backlash in Ukraine.
In the aftermath Musk branded Zelensky ‘evil’ and accused him of pushing a ‘forever war’ with Russia.
Musk said: ‘Zelensky wants a forever war, a never-ending graft meat grinder. This is evil.
On Monday, Zelensky was in Saudi Arabia to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Talks will be held there on Tuesday between Ukrainian and U.S. officials that Washington hopes will deliver substantial progress towards ending Ukraine’s war with Russia.
The U.S., once Ukraine’s main ally, has upended its policy on the conflict in pursuit of a rapid end to the fighting.
It is engaging directly with Moscow while stopping military assistance and intelligence sharing for Ukraine.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky (R) being welcomed by Saudi officials upon arriving to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 10 March 2025
The attack on X from Ukrainian IP addresses came a day after an extraordinary social media spat over the use of Musk’s Starlink system in the country.
Over the weekend Musk claimed in a post on X that ‘my Starlink system is the backbone of the Ukrainian army. Their entire front line would collapse if I turned it off.’
The post was perceived as a threat by the Polish foreign affairs minister Radosław Sikorski.
He reposted the comment on X with the caption: ‘Starlinks for Ukraine are paid for by the Polish Digitization Ministry at the cost of about $50 million per year.
‘The ethics of threatening the victim of aggression apart, if (Starlink) proves to be an unreliable provider we will be forced to look for other suppliers.’
Musk told Sikorski to ‘be quiet’ and labeled him a ‘small man.’
‘As distasteful as it is, Zelensky should be offered some kind of amnesty in a neutral country in exchange for a peaceful transition back to democracy in Ukraine,’ Musk wrote on X before his spat with the Polish leader.
He bizarrely suggested the Ukrainian leader needs legal protection for fighting off Russias invasion prompted by President Vladimir Putin.
The cyberattack also comes as Musk is pushing Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to slash federal spending on a huge scale.
Anti-Musk protesters rally across from the Tesla dealership at the Americana at Brand mall in Glendale, California on Saturday, February 22, 2025. The protest is one of many happening across the country as part of an effort organizers dub #Tesla Takeover
A member of the Seattle Fire Department inspects a burned Tesla Cybertruck at a Tesla lot in Seattle, Monday, March 10, 2025
Adam Lansky, 41, is believed to have launched ‘Molotov cocktails that struck a dealership building and several vehicles’ sparking several fires at an Oregon dealership, according to the Justice Department
Authorities have been investigating who is behind fires set at Tesla charging stations in Massachusetts
Already the group is touting estimated savings over $100 billion in savings, according to the DOGE site. That shakes out to about $650 saved per taxpayer.
These efforts have prompted an eruption of protests across the country as federal workers and liberals decry the Musk and Trump-led effort.
Most recently activists have targeted Musk’s Tesla locations where they have held protests and blocked customers from entering dealerships.
In some instances, Tesla cars that were sitting in lots ready for sale were completely burnt to a crisp by arsonists in Colorado and France.
When pressed on how vandals have been targeting Tesla globally, Musk shrugged off the disasters.
‘Always look on the bright side of life,’ he said with a smile before bursting out with a laugh.
