Elon Musk has sensationally revealed the devastating cyberattack that took down his social media app X on Monday seemingly originated in Ukraine.
His bombshell revelation followed repeated glitches with the site, which has been down for much of the day.
‘Well, 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 site is now back up and running.
His statement came after the platform had been down for users worldwide. They had complained about issues with the app and website since as early as 5:30am ET.
Musk shared on X that the hack involved 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
Musk did not offer any other details on the attack which has impacted the app’s 600 million active monthly users.
It came amid fraught relations between Kyiv and Washington.
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.
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 backlash in Ukraine.
In the aftermath Musk branded Zelensky ‘evil’ and accused him of pushing a ‘forever war’ with Russia.
Musk said at the time: ‘Zelensky wants a forever war, a never-ending graft meat grinder. This is evil.’
In October, Musk called for a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia, and added: ‘We are sleepwalking our way into World War III with one foolish decision after the other.’
Elon Musk (L) sits for an interview with Fox Business Network’s Larry Kudlow
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.
Following the attack on X, Dark Storm Team, a hacking group, took credit for it, according to a Monday afternoon post.
Dark Storm Team, a Pro-Palestinian hacker group, has no known ties to Ukraine or hacktivists inside the country. The group is known for targeting those who support Israel’s military actions in Gaza.
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 to get so overwhelmed that it slows down or completely crashes, making it impossible for real users to get onto X.
Many users were left unable to log in to their accounts, while others reported the site would not load to show posts.
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.
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
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky (R) being welcomed by Saudi officials upon arriving to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 10 March 2025
The attack on X 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.’
Previously, Musk had written on X: ‘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.’
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
The cyberattack also comes as Musk is pushing Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to slash federal spending on a huge scale.
Already, the group is touting estimated savings over $100 billion, according to the DOGE site. That works out to about $650 saved per taxpayer.
These efforts have prompted 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 burned by arsonists in Colorado and France.
When pressed on how vandals have been targeting Tesla globally, Musk shrugged it off.
‘Always look on the bright side of life,’ he said with a smile before bursting out with a laugh.
