Trending on X, 2 AM: Musk on Russian conscripts, Proton plant, mutton prices, fuel queues, bitcoin, Davaabandi

These are the topics Mongolian users discussed most on X between 22:15 on October 25 and 02:15 on October 26 (Ulaanbaatar time), ranked by engagement. Posting and engagement were light on a Sunday night, and only 6 topics could be verified against news sites, so we did not pad the list to 10. Topics from earlier roundups appear only where there is a new development. Posts with unverified information or unsupported accusations against named people were left out. Post metrics are as of 02:29.

1. Elon Musk urges "sympathy" for Russian conscripts as the Starlink row continues (new development)

SpaceX chief Elon Musk wrote on X on October 25 that "the endless killing of Ukrainians and Russians must stop" and that "we should also have some sympathy for the poor Russian conscripts. These guys have no choice but to fight and die in drone strikes," sparking sharp debate among Mongolian users as well. According to Ukraine's LIGA.net and TSN, Musk made the remark in reply to a post by the artist Skscartoon. A day earlier, Musk had accused the Ukrainian military of violating Starlink's terms of service by using the civilian service for offensive drone strikes. Serhii Beskrestnov, a technology adviser to Ukraine's president, rejected the claim, saying all Starlink terminals in Ukraine have been subject to a movement speed limit since February 2026 and that the service does not work in Russia, so civilian Starlink cannot be used for deep strikes.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported that US Senator Richard Blumenthal opened an inquiry on October 22 through the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations into the restriction of Ukraine's Starshield service, asking SpaceX officials to brief the panel by November 12. Senator Adam Schiff told NBC's "Meet the Press" on October 25 that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth should testify before the Senate on the matter. An earlier roundup covered Musk's dispute with Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski; this time the focus is Musk's new remark and the congressional scrutiny.

Read more in our separate report:

2. Satellite images show damage at Russia's Proton plant in Oryol after Ukrainian strike (new development)

Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) published satellite images on October 25 showing that two buildings at the Proton plant in Oryol, Russia, were damaged in the October 23 strike. According to the outlet, the damage also reached a neighbouring building housing Proton-Electrotex, a microchip maker. Oryol Governor Andrei Klychkov said eight people were injured in the city but gave no details on the damage to the plant. Ukraine's General Staff confirmed the strike, saying the plant makes components for S-71 Kover cruise missiles, Iskander-M ballistic missiles and Pantsir-S1 air defence systems. egov.mn mentioned the strike in an earlier report; the newly published images show the extent of the damage.

Mongolian users also discussed renewed Ukrainian strikes on Russian data centres. AP reported on October 21 that a Yandex data centre in Sasovo, Ryazan Oblast, was severely damaged by an October 8 drone strike, and experts said such strikes had disrupted some Russian online services and set back AI research. No official source has confirmed a new strike on a data centre on October 25.

3. Post comparing mutton prices with 2016 draws attention

A post by user @Ariuka_Ba comparing mutton prices with 2016 and estimating a several-fold increase was among the most reposted in this window. The 2016 figures cited are the user's own estimates. Officially, the Ulaanbaatar City Statistics Department's weekly price brief of October 19 put the average price of bone-in mutton in Ulaanbaatar at 25,480 tugrik per kilogram. Users shared their views on household incomes and rising food prices.

4. Fuel queues persist into Sunday evening (new development)

The October 24 roundup covered queues for AI-92 petrol. On Sunday evening, some users wrote that petrol was hard to find, that around 100 cars were queuing at stations still selling fuel, and that some pumps had none of AI-92, AI-95 or "Euro" grades. One user said they queued for two hours without getting petrol and suggested stations estimate how many cars their remaining stock can serve and manage queues accordingly. These are users' own observations; no new official data on fuel reserves had been released for October 25-26. Mongolian National Broadcaster reported on October 22 that AI-92 reserves covered 10 days of demand and AI-95 reserves 13 days, and that 38,000 of the 78,000 tonnes of AI-92 planned for import in October had arrived. Stock levels and queues at Ulaanbaatar filling stations can be checked in real time at benzin.mn.

5. Bitcoin briefly drops below $80,000

News of a sharp crypto sell-off spread among Mongolian users. According to The Block and Yahoo Finance, bitcoin briefly fell below $80,000 on October 24-25, and about $200 million in leveraged positions were liquidated within an hour. Crypto market liquidations over 24 hours exceeded $800 million, mostly long positions betting on rising prices.

6. Greco-Roman World Championships: M. Davaabandi finishes fifth (new development)

M. Davaabandi, who an earlier roundup reported was set to wrestle for bronze, finished fifth at 55 kg at the Greco-Roman World Championships in Astana. According to United World Wrestling and USA Wrestling, Georgia's Vakhtang Lolua beat Davaabandi 10-0 by technical superiority in the bronze medal bout. Azerbaijan's Eldaniz Azizli won gold at the weight, Iran's Payam Ahmadi Balootaki took silver, and Lolua and Kazakhstan's Iskhar Kurbayev won bronze.

Methodology: We ranked posts from about 200 major news and influential accounts found through X search, plus more than 50 keyword searches, by an engagement score (likes + 2× reposts + views/100), and checked the facts against news sites. Posts that could not be verified or that carried a risk of defamation were left out. Views expressed by individuals on X do not represent the position of egov.mn.