Musk: "Ukrainians despised their president"

Elon Musk attacked Volodymyr Zelensky Thursday, saying Ukrainians "despised" their president and that US leader Donald Trump was right to leave him out of talks with Russia aimed at ending the Ukraine war.

SpaceX and Tesla boss Musk launched into a tirade against Zelensky on his X social network, accusing him without evidence of running a "massive graft machine feeding off the dead bodies of Ukrainian soldiers."

"He knows he would lose in a landslide, despite having seized control of ALL Ukrainian media, so he canceled the election. In reality, he is despised by the people of Ukraine," Musk wrote.

Trump accused Ukraine on Tuesday of having started the war, and doubled down on Wednesday by branding Zelensky a "dictator without elections."