U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly and billionaire Elon Musk traded insults on social media after the Arizona Democrat noted his recent visit to Ukraine and continued support for that country in its war with Russia.
Musk, who is an adviser and top financial backer of President Donald Trump, responded Monday to Kelly’s posts on Musk’s X platform: “You are a traitor.”
Kelly fired back with an allusion to Trump’s signature political slogan.
“Traitor? Elon, if you don’t understand that defending freedom is a basic tenet of what makes America great and keeps us safe, maybe you should leave it to those of us who do.”
The social media backbiting comes after Kelly visited Ukraine for the third time in a year and adds to widening tensions between Trump’s administration and U.S. allies, notably Poland, which Kelly also visited.
Kelly said no one wants the war ended more than its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“But it has to end in a way that protects their sovereignty and security,” Kelly, D-Ariz., said in a statement after his return Sunday. “The safety of Ukraine is tied to the safety of the United States, that’s why I stand with Ukraine.”
Kelly’s solo visit included a meeting with Ukraine’s deputy minister of defense and an inspection of defense industry sites. But as much as anything, it stood as a symbolic reminder of the significant split in Washington about the effort to end that war and who provoked it in the first place.
In an interview with The Arizona Republic, Kelly dismissed his barbs with Musk and focused instead on what Musk is doing to all Americans.
“He has spent the last two months trying to slash and burn the federal government in a way that’s not helpful to most Americans,” Kelly said.
“But what he’s really trying to do is get to the point where they can deliver this big, giant tax cut for billionaires like himself and his buddies and Donald Trump.”
Kelly said the scene in Ukraine remains critical and part of Putin’s plans to restore the former Soviet Union.
Ukrainians are losing their limbs and their lives in a fight for their nation’s survival, he said.
Kelly said he met a man at a hospital for the wounded who had lost a hand, an arm and a leg in the war.
“These are folks that for a large part are going to go back into the fight because they know how important it is and they know how violent and murderous the Russians are,” Kelly said. “For us, the United States to give up on Ukraine, who is fighting a country who wants to see the downfall of western civilization, it’s a travesty.”
Kelly added more comments on X Monday about the U.S.’ change in policy after saying he made the trip with his twin brother, Scott, who is, like Mark Kelly, also a former astronaut.
U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., attends a meeting in Ukraine during his recent visit to that nation in this undated photo. Kelly has maintained support for Ukraine at a time when President Donald Trump has publicly berated Ukraine’s president and called for peace.
He called continuing attacks “war crimes carried out by Russia.”
“It’s not ‘America First’ to pull the rug out from under an ally and leave their people to die,” Kelly said. “This kind of foreign policy will end with no one in the world trusting America.”
Musk, Kelly resume weekslong battle of words
That prompted the response from Musk, who is effectively overseeing Trump’s advisory Department of Government Efficiency, which is leading the mass layoffs across the federal government.
Apart from the sniping at Kelly, Musk has fueled widening aggravation with Poland.
On Sunday, Musk, who is the world’s richest man, posted that his mobile satellite service Starlink was the “backbone of the Ukrainian army” and that “their entire front line would collapse if I turned it off.”
Poland’s foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, responded to Musk’s statement by saying his country — not Musk — is paying for the service via Musk’s SpaceX company.
“Starlinks for Ukraine are paid for by the Polish Digitization Ministry at the cost of about $50 million per year,” Sikorski wrote, according to the BBC. “The ethics of threatening the victim of aggression apart, if (Musk’s) SpaceX proves to be an unreliable provider we will be forced to look for other suppliers.”
That prompted U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to denounce his Polish counterpart.
Sikorski was “just making things up … no one has made any threats about cutting Ukraine off from Starlink.”
“And say thank you because without Starlink Ukraine would have lost this war long ago and Russians would be on the border with Poland right now.”
Musk added an insult to the dispute.
“Be quiet, small man,” he said in reference to the Polish foreign minister. “You pay a tiny fraction of the cost. And there is no substitute for Starlink.”
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk responded with a vague post on X, presumably pointed at Musk and the U.S. government.
“True leadership means respect for partners and allies,” he said. “Even for the smaller and weaker ones. Never arrogance. Dear friends, think about it.”
Monday’s mean tweets resume a battle between Kelly and Musk that started in late February, when Musk and Trump claimed that former President Joe Biden “abandoned” two U.S. astronauts in space.
Andreas Mogensen, a Danish astronaut, called Musk’s assertion “a lie.”
Musk responded by saying the astronaut was “fully retarded. SpaceX could have brought them back several months ago.”
Scott Kelly defended Mogensen on social media.
“I was the Commander of the (International Space Station) when Andy flew his first space mission. He is one of the most competent, trustworthy, and honest people I’ve ever met,” Scott Kelly wrote. “This rhetoric is beyond the pale but, sadly, not surprising. He does not deserve this kind of disrespect.”
Musk said he did deserve it.
“He is an idiot who publicly attacked me, despite having no idea what ACTUALLY happened,” Musk wrote. “(By the way), your brother claims to be independent, but is just a Dem donor shill.”
Mark Kelly then jabbed at Musk’s lack of personal experience in space.
“Hey (Elon Musk), when you finally get the nerve to climb into a rocket ship, come talk to the three of us,” he wrote.
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Tensions in U.S. escalate over Ukraine-Russia War
Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Zelenskyy in a Feb. 28 Oval Office meeting that ended with the Ukrainian president leaving the White House without finalizing an expected deal tying U.S. aid to access to scarce minerals in that country.
Since then, Trump has threatened more sanctions on Russia, paused U.S. aid and at least some intelligence to Ukraine, praised President Vladimir Putin and avoided acknowledging Russia expanded its 2014 invasion of that country with a wider attack in 2022.
During his address to Congress last week, Trump announced Zelenskyy had reached out to him again seeking peace, and said Putin has sent “strong signals that they are ready for peace.”
Zelenskyy has rebuffed a peace agreement that doesn’t include security guarantees from the West and the Trump administration has drawn Democrats’ condemnation as essentially following terms favored by Putin.
Kelly, who is a member of the Senate’s Armed Services and Select Intelligence committees, met with the International Red Cross and the U.S. embassy about conditions in war-torn Ukraine.
“I visited Ukraine to show my support for the Ukrainian people. As always, I’m blown away by their resolve as they fight for their country in the face of Putin’s illegal invasion,” Kelly said.
“I plan to bring what I’ve learned from Ukrainian leaders, service members, and the Ukrainian people back to Washington to share the direct impact our support has on the ground.”
In a clear split with the Trump administration, Kelly said he “emphasized that he’s working with colleagues to reinstate support” to Ukraine.
Kelly has visited Ukraine twice during the war
Kelly has long taken a skeptical view of Putin and supported U.S. aid to Ukraine, which has included training that nation’s pilots in Arizona on using F-16 fighter jets.
Kelly said Monday he is “impressed” at the rapid improvement seen in flying F-16s in Ukraine. He acknowledged the country initially had problems, especially with maintenance of the jets.
In a September visit, Kelly talked to Ukrainian officials about their counteroffensive actions in the war.
In April, Kelly and other U.S. senators met with Zelenskyy in Kyiv to encourage continued support for their efforts.
Kelly was among the members of Congress who met with Zelenskyy just before his ill-fated meeting with Trump last month.
“Make no mistake — and I hope the American people get this — that this makes us look weak,” Kelly said in an appearance on MSNBC afterward.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Sen. Mark Kelly draws harsh words from Elon Musk after Ukraine visit
