Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks at a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, 4 April 2025. Photo: EPA-EFE/STRINGER
The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s national parliament, has passed bills to extend martial law and mobilisation in Ukraine for an additional period of 90 days, Rada deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak announced on Telegram on Wednesday.
The decision to extend martial law, which delays the prospect of Ukraine holding elections until at least 6 August, was approved by 357 MPs, with one voting against. It marks the 15th such extension since full-scale war began in February 2022.
While Ukrainian lawmakers were widely expected to pass the measures, recent pressure posed by the United States and Russia had raised the question of whether they would seek to hold new elections this year.
In recent months, the Kremlin has frequently attempted to paint Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as an illegitimate leader due to the official expiration of his presidential term last year, since when Zelensky has remained in office as president, where he will stay until martial law is lifted.
In late March, Vladimir Putin called for a temporary UN-supervised administration to oversee a national election campaign and the transfer of power to a “capable government” with which Russia would be willing to negotiate an end to the war.
For its part, US President Donald Trump’s administration has also sought to cast doubt on the legitimacy of Zelensky’s rule. In February, one week before Zelensky’s White House visit, Trump labelled his Ukrainian counterpart “a dictator without elections”, while in early March, members of Trump’s close team were reported to have contacted two of Zelensky’s political rivals in an apparent attempt to build support for snap elections leading to his removal.
A clause in the Ukrainian Constitution bans elections while the country is under martial law. Zelensky has made repeated promises to organise a vote in the country as soon as it is possible to do so safely. In early March, he also suggested that he would be prepared to step down as leader of Ukraine if his country was allowed to join NATO.
