Zelensky says Ukraine ‘ready for elections’ if partners guarantee security

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country was “ready to hold elections” after US President Donald Trump reiterated that Kyiv was “using war” to avoid holding elections.

Zelensky’s five-year presidential term is due to end in May 2024, but elections in Ukraine have been suspended since martial law was declared following Russia’s invasion.

Speaking to reporters after Trump’s wide-ranging remarks political interviewZelensky said he would ask for proposals to be drafted that could change the law.

He said the election could be held within the next 60 to 90 days if voting security is ensured with the help of the United States and other allies.

“I’m asking now, and I’m stating this publicly, that the United States can help me, perhaps with our European colleagues, to secure the election,” he told reporters.

He said: “I believe that the election issue in Ukraine depends first and foremost on our people. This is an issue for the Ukrainian people, not for the people of other countries. I would like to pay due respect to our partners.”

“I’ve heard insinuations that we’re clinging to power, or I personally am clinging to the presidency” and “that’s why the war isn’t over,” which he called “a completely unreasonable narrative, frankly.”

Zelenskiy win the 2019 election Received more than 73% of the votes.

Russia has long claimed that Zelensky is an illegitimate leader and has demanded new elections as a condition of a ceasefire – a talking point that Trump has also repeated.

“They talk about democracy, but it’s gotten to the point where it’s no longer a democracy,” the US president told Politico. he had suggested There is no evidence that Zelensky is a major obstacle to peace U.S.-led efforts to reach a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine continue.

A Ukrainian opposition lawmaker told the BBC that such a vote would only be fair if all Ukrainians could participate, including soldiers fighting on the front lines.

Lesia Vasylenko told the BBC World Service’s Newsday programme: “For these elections to be fair, all Ukrainian people need to be allowed to vote.”

She said “an election could never be held in wartime”, alluding to Britain’s suspension of elections during the Second World War.

Discussions around holding elections have been making headlines since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The Ukrainian government, opposition and public often dismiss these discussions, arguing that unity in the war must come first.

A March opinion poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) found that some 78% of people opposed holding elections after a safe ceasefire, arguing that elections can only be held after the problem is completely resolved.

That dropped to 63% in the September poll, while 22% said elections could be held after a security-guaranteed ceasefire, up from 9% in March.

“As early as a year ago, Zelensky said that, in the face of previous pressure, he was ready to hold elections if conditions allowed,” Hannah Sheleist, a foreign policy analyst at the Ukrainian Prism think tank, told the BBC.

However, Shelest told BBC News International that the problem is how to create the conditions outlined by Zelenskiy, given that around 1 million soldiers and 4 million refugees will be taking part in the vote, as well as insecure areas and ongoing strikes in the country.

“You can’t guarantee the security of a polling place,” she said.

Zelensky also faces continued and growing pressure from Trump to agree to a peace deal to end the war, with the U.S. leader urging Zelensky to “cooperate” by ceding territory to Moscow.

Trump also criticized European leaders for being “weak” And suggested that the United States could reduce its support for Ukraine.

Ukraine’s president is on a diplomatic trip to Europe after intensive weekend talks between U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators failed to reach a deal that Kyiv could agree to.

He has pressured European and Nato leaders to block U.S. support for a deal that Kiev fears will leave it open to future attacks and has ruled out handing over land.