Zelensky says he is ready to hold elections if Ukraine’s allies can guarantee security

In a surprise departure from a long-held position, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday indicated his readiness to hold presidential elections in the next few months despite the country being at war, RBC-Ukraine reported.

In remarks made to journalists in Rome following meetings with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Pope Leo XIV, Zelensky said that elections could be held if Kyiv’s Western allies were prepared to offer security guarantees and as long as Ukraine’s parliament passed revised legislation allowing elections to be held under martial law.

Zelensky rejected claims that he was clinging on to power, responding to US President Donald Trump’s interview with POLITICO on Tuesday in which he suggested that Ukraine was “not a democracy anymore” while the government was “using war not to hold an election”.

Visibly irritated by Trump’s comments, Zelensky said that: “The question of elections in Ukraine … depends first and foremost on our people, and it is a question for the people of Ukraine, not people from other states, with all due respect to our partners”. 

However, the Ukrainian leader, who has held office since May 2019, stressed that he was “ready” to hold elections within 60–90 days if Ukraine’s US and European allies were willing to “ensure security” during the vote amid ongoing Russian attacks on the country.

Zelensky also urged the Ukrainian parliament to amend legislation that prohibits the holding of elections under martial law. “I am waiting for proposals from our partners and lawmakers and am ready to run in the election,” he continued.

The Kremlin has frequently attempted to paint Zelensky as an illegitimate leader due to the official expiration of his presidential term in May 2024, since when Zelensky has legally remained president as the country’s constitution does not allow for the holding of elections under martial law.

This is also not the first time that the Trump administration has implied that Zelensky is somehow ruling without a democratic mandate, with Trump labelling the Ukrainian president “a dictator without elections” in February and members of Trump’s team reportedly contacting two of Zelensky’s political rivals shortly afterwards in an apparent attempt to build support for snap elections that would lead to his removal.