Elon Musk Calls Sen. Mark Kelly 'A Traitor' After Visiting Ukraine

Tech billionaire Elon Musk accused Sen. Mark Kelly of betraying his country after the Arizona Democrat visited Ukraine over the weekend and urged the U.S. to stand with Ukrainians against continued Russian aggression.

The accusation from one of President Donald Trump’s most influential advisers came in response to Kelly’s observations about the war in Ukraine on X, the social media platform owned by Musk and known formerly as Twitter.

“You are a traitor,” Musk told the senator on Monday.

“I’ve sworn an oath to this country. I’ve flown in combat. I served in the Navy for 25 years. It appears to me the oath that Elon Musk stands by is the oath to billionaires make their lives easier, not the American people, not veterans,” Kelly said in response. “He’s not a serious guy. He should go back to building rockets.”

Kelly, a former U.S. Navy combat pilot and astronaut, visited a military hospital and met with Red Cross staff during his third visit to Ukraine since 2023. He heard from wounded service members and spent time with pilots who’ve flown combat missions defending from Russian air attacks.

“No one wants this war to end more than President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people,” Kelly said in a statement. “But it has to end in a way that protects their sovereignty and security. The safety of Ukraine is tied to the safety of the United States, that’s why I stand with Ukraine.”

He added more comments online on Monday which appeared to trigger Musk, a critic of Zelenskyy and U.S. support for Ukraine.

“It’s not ‘America First’ to pull the rug out from under an ally and leave their people to die,” Kelly wrote. “This kind of foreign policy will end with no one in the world trusting America.”

The senator’s visit followed Trump’s heated meeting at the White House last month with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vice President JD Vance, in which Vance berated Zelenskyy, resulting in the Ukrainian president leaving the White House without signing an agreement for security guarantees from the U.S. in exchange for Ukrainian rare earth minerals.

Since the Feb. 28 meeting, Trump paused U.S. military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine. He’s also threatened sanctions on Russia in response to its deadly bombing campaigns in Ukraine.

It’s not the first time Musk has attacked Kelly. Last month, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO called the senator a “Dem donor shill” after he and his brother Scott Kelly, who is also a retired astronaut, criticized Musk for his derogatory comments about a Danish astronaut.

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Kelly then challenged the Department of Government Efficiency head to “climb into a rocket ship” before talking to the three of them.