Elon Musk spits fire at Zelenskyy; rakes up old Vogue photoshoot: 'Did this when kids were dying'

Entrepreneur Elon Musk continued his tirade against Ukraine President Volodomyr Zelenskyy on his social media platform X, stating that he killed American journalist Gonzalo Lira. Musk also targeted Zelenskyy for his last year's Vogue photoshoot along with his wife. 

"Zelensky killed an American journalist!" Musk said Wednesday. His response came after an account claimed that Chilean-American journalist Gonzalo Lira was killed in Ukraine last year for allegedly being critical of Zelenskyy. 

Lira was detained in Kharkiv in May 2023 after being accused of supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A few months later, Lira fell ill with double bronchopneumonia and passed away soon. Lira's father alleged that Kyiv neglected and tried to hide the fact of the journalist's illness from his family and lawyers. In January 2024, the US State Department confirmed the veracity of the information about Lira's death in custody in Ukraine.

Musk's criticism came just as US President  Donald Trump called Zelenskyy a dictator. He also followed it up with another post, stating that the Ukrainian President "cannot claim to represent the will of the people of Ukraine unless he restores freedom of the press and stops cancelling elections!"

But, his most scathing of the attack came soon after he tweeted the picture of Zelenskyy with his wife Olena Zelenska on the cover of Vogue. His post read: "He did this while kids were dying in trenches on the war front."

The Tesla CEO who once shared a good rapport with Zelenskyy had initially donated thousands of Starlink satellite internet system terminals to Ukraine after Russia destroyed Ukraine's communications services. Once an important ally of Kyiv, Musk turned into a foe as he questioned the provision of American aid "with no accountability and no end game" to Ukraine.

Trump posted on his Truth Social platform hours after Zelenskyy slammed Donald Trump's statement that Kyiv "should have never started" the war, saying the US president was living in a Russian "disinformation bubble."