Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said the country is “ready for elections,” responding to renewed accusations from US President Donald Trump that Kyiv is “using war” as an excuse to delay national polls.
Zelensky’s five-year presidential term was due to expire in May 2024, but elections were suspended after Ukraine imposed martial law following Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
Speaking to reporters after Trump repeated the claims in a wide-ranging Politico interview, Zelensky said he had instructed officials to begin drafting proposals that could change existing laws to enable a vote.
He stated that elections could be held within “60 to 90 days” if Ukraine received international assistance to secure the voting process. “I’m asking now, and I’m stating this openly, for the US to help me, perhaps together with our European colleagues, to ensure security for the elections,” he said.
Zelensky emphasised that the decision ultimately rests with Ukrainian citizens. “The issue of elections in Ukraine, I believe, depends first and foremost on our people, and this is a question for the people of Ukraine, not the people of other countries. With all due respect to our partners.”
Addressing suggestions that he is clinging to power, the president said: “I’ve heard hints that we’re clinging to power, or that I personally am clinging to the presidency and that’s why the war isn’t ending,” calling such claims “frankly, a completely unreasonable narrative.”
Russia has repeatedly claimed Zelensky is illegitimate and has demanded elections as a condition for any ceasefire — a narrative Trump echoed in his interview.
“They talk about a democracy, but it gets to a point where it’s not a democracy anymore,” Trump told Politico, suggesting without evidence that Zelensky is obstructing peace efforts.
Ukrainian opposition MP Lesia Vasylenko told the BBC that any election must include all Ukrainians — including troops on the front line. “In order for these elections to be fair all of the people of Ukraine would need to be allowed to vote,” she said, adding that “elections are never possible in wartime,” referencing the UK’s suspension of elections during World War Two.
Debate over wartime elections has continued throughout the conflict but has been largely rejected by Ukraine’s public and political class, who argue unity is vital while fighting persists. A March poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found 78% of Ukrainians opposed holding elections even after a full settlement of the war.
Hanna Shelest, a foreign policy analyst at Ukrainian Prism, told the BBC that Zelensky had previously signalled readiness for elections “as soon as the conditions allow,” but the real challenge is creating those conditions. She noted that around one million soldiers, four million refugees, unsecured territories and ongoing missile attacks make conducting a safe nationwide vote nearly impossible. “You cannot guarantee the security of the polling stations,” she said.
