JD Vance, right, publicly attacked Volodymyr Zelensky in their Oval Office meeting last month -

JD Vance and Donald Trump are “Vladimir Putin’s useful idiots”, the vice-president’s cousin has claimed, after the US suspended military aid to Ukraine.

Nate Vance, who reportedly spent three years fighting to defend Ukraine from Russia’s invasion, accused Mr Vance of “ambushing” Volodymyr Zelensky in an explosive Oval Office encounter with the Ukrainian leader last month.

“Donald Trump and my cousin clearly believe they can placate Vladimir Putin. They are wrong. The Russians are not about to forget our support for Ukraine,” Nate Vance, who returned to the US in January, told Le Figaro.

“We are Vladimir Putin’s useful idiots,” he added.

Nate Vance travelled to Ukraine three weeks after Russia’s invasion in February 2022, and has since reportedly fought in some of the war’s bloodiest battles as part of the “Da Vinci Wolves” battalion.

By contrast, his cousin has been a longstanding critic of Kyiv, and said shortly before the invasion: “I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine.”

He publicly attacked Mr Zelensky in their Oval Office meeting last month for being “disrespectful” and ungrateful for US military aid shipments.

‘Game of politics’

“Have you said thank you once?” Mr Vance asked the Ukrainian leader, accusing him of “litigating in front of the American media”.

Nate Vance criticised his cousin’s reception of Mr Zelensky, saying the Yale Law School graduate was a “good guy, intelligent” but was playing politics with Ukraine’s future.

“When he criticised aid to Ukraine, I told myself that it was because he had to please a certain electorate, that it was the game of politics,” he told Le Figaro.

“But what they did to Zelensky was an ambush of absolute bad faith.”

He argued that Ukraine had put US donations of military equipment – which Mr Trump suspended on Monday as he piled pressure on Kyiv to reach a peace deal with Moscow – to good use on the front lines.

“I was disappointed. When JD justifies his distrust of Zelensky by the ‘reports’ he has seen, I thought I was going to choke,” Nate Vance said.

“His own cousin was on the front lines. I could have told him the truth, without pretence, without personal interest. He never tried to find out more.”

He added that he had left messages with his cousin’s office but never heard back.

Nate Vance said he left Ukraine in January, shortly before his cousin became vice-president, because “it had become complicated to stay – I couldn’t take the risk of being captured”.

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Elon Musk calls Sen. Mark Kelly a 'traitor' over his social media posts in support of Ukraine

Elon Musk and Sen. Mark Kelly sparred on social media Monday, with the tech billionaire calling the Arizona Democrat a “traitor” over a series of posts in support of Ukraine and its people.

Kelly said in his initial post Sunday that his trip over the weekend to the war-torn country, where he met with military members, nurses and others, had reaffirmed his commitment to not give up on the Ukrainian people. He added that any peace deal with Russia “has to protect Ukraine’s security and can’t be a giveaway” to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Kelly also criticized President Donald Trump, saying he was “trying to weaken Ukraine’s hand.”

“You are a traitor,” Musk wrote on X on Monday, the platform he owns, in response to Kelly’s posts.

“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,” Kelly responded.

The senator's trip came shortly after the Trump administration paused military aid to Ukraine in the wake of an explosive meeting in the Oval Office on Feb. 28, when Trump and Vice President JD Vance chastised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over what they called his lack of gratitude for U.S. assistance in the three years since Russia invaded his country.

Kelly also shot back at Musk, the head of SpaceX and architect of the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency, while speaking to reporters Monday on Capitol Hill.

“He’s slashed and burned the federal government to make room for a giant tax cut for billionaires like himself. 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 to make their lives easier, not the American people, not veterans,” Kelly said. “He’s not a serious guy. He should go back to building rockets.”

Kelly said that his Ukraine visit was emotional at times, and that he believes Putin needs to come out of any deal feeling like it was a "bad deal" for him.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to attend talks with Zelenskyy in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. Rubio and other U.S. officials previously met with a Russian delegation to discuss peace negotiations.

In addition to efforts to drastically reduce U.S. government spending, Musk has faced criticism in the past over Ukraine.

In 2023, Musk thwarted a Ukraine attack on Russia's navy, and suggested in a Twitter poll in 2022 that Ukraine should allow Russia to take control of Crimea, among other concessions, as part of a peace deal.

The fiery exchange is not the first time Kelly and the tech billionaire turned Trump adviser have engaged in a public spat.

Last month, Musk called Kelly a “Dem donor shill” in a post criticizing his twin brother, also a former astronaut, and the Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen.

“Hey @ElonMusk, when you finally get the nerve to climb into a rocket ship, come talk to the three of us,” Kelly fired back.

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Rubio takes Elon Musk’s side in fight with Polish diplomat: ‘Just making things up’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio took Elon Musk’s side in an online fight with a Polish diplomat over Starlink’s role in the Russia-Ukraine war.

The exchanges were notable coming days after Rubio and the tech mogul reportedly clashed over Musk’s actions with the Department of Government Efficiency during a Trump Cabinet meeting at the end of last week.

Starlink, one of Musk’s companies, has been an extremely important tool for Ukraine’s defense against Russia in the war. Musk first provided the service to Kyiv in early 2022 to help the country’s communications systems.

At one point in a lengthy discussion in a post on Musk’s social platform X, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski suggested Musk was threatening to cut Ukraine off from Starlink.

He said Ukraine’s Starlink system is paid for by the Polish Digitization Ministry for about $50 million a year.

“The ethics of threatening the victim of aggression apart, if SpaceX proves to be an unreliable provider we will be forced to look for other suppliers,” he said.

“Just making things up. No one has made any threats about cutting Ukraine off from Starlink,” Rubio then posted, joining the discussion.

Sikorski then thanked Rubio for his comments.

“Thank you, Marco, for confirming that the brave soldiers of Ukraine can count on the vital internet service provided jointly by [the United States and Poland,” he wrote.

Sikorski said with the help of the United States and Europe, a just peace could be found in Ukraine.

President Trump has shaken Poland and other countries in Europe with stark criticism of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump also paused U.S. aid to Ukraine and has suggested Kyiv is more of an impediment to peace than Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of its smaller neighbor in 2022.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) began the thread of posts that led to the Rubio-Sikorski exchange earlier over the weekend, calling for “not another penny” to be sent to Ukraine. Musk replied that there should be sanction put on “the top 10 Ukrainian oligarchs” and the war will stop “immediately.”

“That is the key to the puzzle,” he said.

Another user replied that he agrees “anyone engaging in corruption” should be sanctioned, but he slammed Musk for the recent belief that Russia is not an aggressor in this conflict and the Trump administration’s efforts to work with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“You got to stop pretending that Putin isn’t the aggressor. Ukraine is the victim. Knock it off with the nonsense. You seem focused on only criticizing Ukraine but not Putin for some reason,” the user, Adam Lowisz, said in his post.

Musk replied saying he “literally challenged” Putin to physical combat over Ukraine and his Starlink system.

“Their entire front line would collapse if I turned it off. What I am sickened by is years of slaughter in a stalemate that Ukraine will inevitably lose. Anyone who really cares, really thinks and really understands wants the meat grinder to stop,” Musk said.

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Polish PM Tusk cautions 'friends' against arrogance after Starlink spat

Poland's prime minister on Monday called on "friends" to respect their allies and not be arrogant, in a post on X which mentioned no-one by name but came a day after an extraordinary social media spat between top U.S. and Polish officials over Starlink.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Poland's foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski of "making things up" and suggested on Sunday he was ungrateful, in a strong rebuke after Sikorski said Ukraine may need an alternative to Elon Musk's Starlink satellite service if it becomes unreliable.

Poland pays for Ukraine to use the services of Starlink, which provides crucial internet connectivity to Kyiv and its military.

"True leadership means respect for partners and allies. Even for the smaller and weaker ones," Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote in English on X. "Never arrogance. Dear friends, think about it."

Rubio had also said that "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," Rubio added.

Sikorski had later replied: "Thank you, Marco, for confirming that the brave soldiers of Ukraine can count on the vital internet service provided jointly by the U.S. and Poland".

Sikorski had been told to "be quiet" and labelled a "small man" by Musk after he suggested Poland, which says it pays $50 million per year for Ukraine's Starlink services, might need to find another provider if Musk's service was unreliable.

'BIG MISTAKE'

Sikorski has come in for criticism from Poland's nationalist opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, who accuse him of damaging relations with the United States.

"Diplomacy is not conducted on Twitter and I consider it a big mistake from Minister Sikorski," said Karol Nawrocki, the candidate backed by PiS in Poland's presidential election. Musk's X platform was formerly known as Twitter.

The U.S. government has already revoked some access to satellite imagery for Ukraine and paused intelligence sharing, piling pressure on Kyiv as Trump seeks a swift end to the war, now in its fourth year after Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Shares in Franco-British satellite operator Eutelsat soared as much as 650% last week due to speculation the company could replace Starlink in providing internet access to Ukraine.

Musk, a high-profile figure in the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, said in a post on X early on Sunday that Ukraine's "entire front line would collapse if I turned it (Starlink) off".

In a series of posts on X on the subject, that lasted through the day, Musk said later he would not turn off Starlink in Ukraine.

"To be extremely clear, no matter how much I disagree with the Ukraine policy, Starlink will never turn off its terminals ... We would never do such a thing or use it as a bargaining chip."

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