Zelenskyy
‘ready for elections’ after Trump questions Ukrainian democracy
Zelenskyy
says he would hold wartime elections within months given help from allies and
Ukraine’s parliament
Shaun
Walker in Kyiv
Tue 9 Dec
2025 23.09 CET
Volodymyr
Zelenskyy has said he is ready to hold a wartime election within the next three
months, if Ukraine’s parliament and foreign allies will allow it, after Donald
Trump accused him of clinging on to power.
Zelenskyy,
clearly irritated by Trump’s intervention, said that “this is a question for
the people of Ukraine, not people from other states, with all due respect to
our partners”.
However,
he promised to explore avenues for holding a vote in the coming months. “Since
this question is raised today by the president of the United States of America,
our partners, I will answer very briefly: look, I am ready for elections,”
Zelenskyy said on Tuesday evening.
“Moreover,
I am asking … the United States to help me, possibly together with European
colleagues, to ensure security for the elections, and then in the next 60 to 90
days Ukraine will be ready to hold the elections. I personally have the will
and readiness for this,” he added.
Trump
made the comments in a rambling interview with Politico published earlier on
Tuesday. “They haven’t had an election in a long time,” said the US president.
“You know, they talk about a democracy, but it gets to a point where it’s not a
democracy any more.”
Zelenskyy’s
five-year term expired in May last year, but the Ukrainian constitution
prohibits elections in wartime, and even his political opponents have said
repeatedly that the security and political considerations do not allow for
holding an election during wartime.
“It would
only cause harm,” said Serhiy Rakhmanin, an MP from the opposition Holos party.
“He’s the commander-in-chief, and the country is in a position where we don’t
have that luxury, whatever issues we might have with him. It would only help
the enemy,” he added.
Zelenskyy
said the two key questions to solve would be the logistical one of how
soldiers, the millions of displaced people, and those living under occupation
would be able to vote, and secondly, how to hold elections legally, given
martial law is in effect.
He asked
for advice from allies regarding securing the elections, and from MPs on how to
amend the law to allow for elections. “I am waiting for proposals from
partners, I am waiting for proposals from our MPs, and I am ready to go to the
elections,” said Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy
was speaking while returning to Ukraine after a diplomatic tour of European
capitals that has come as the White House has increased pressure on Kyiv to
sign up to a peace deal.
Responding
to questions from reporters on Tuesday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine would do
whatever it can to organise a high-level meeting with the US within the next
two weeks on a peace deal. He also said Kyiv was ready for an energy ceasefire
if Russia agrees.
Over the
weekend, Trump’s son Donald Jr said at a conference in Doha that Zelenskyy was
prolonging the war because he was worried he would otherwise lose power. He
also suggested Trump might “walk away” from Ukraine if the war does not end
soon. “It’s not correct. But it’s not exactly wrong,” said Trump, when asked
about his son’s claim.
The US
has indicated that Ukraine should give up the Donbas region to achieve peace, a
move which would be highly unpopular in Ukraine. There is also no sign that
Russia is ready to agree to a deal, even one which would appear to be
beneficial to Moscow.
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