President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that he was ready for elections, as he appeared to bow to pressure from President Donald Trump, who called on Ukraine to hold a national vote during the war with Russia.
While there are serious challenges to holding elections in a country at war, Zelenskyy said that he was prepared to organize them as long as he got his parliament's OK and the U.S. and other allies helped ensure security.
“I am ready for elections; moreover, I am now asking — and I state this openly — for the United States to help me,” he said during a WhatsApp question-and-answer session with journalists.
If security is guaranteed, the elections could be held in the next 60-90 days as long as parliament prepares necessary legislation to enable the vote to occur during martial law, he said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for details on whether the U.S. would help ensure security during elections in Ukraine.
The Kremlin said Wednesday it had not discussed Zelenskyy's readiness for elections with anyone. “This is something Putin has been talking about for a long time,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in his daily briefing. “This is something Trump recently spoke about. We’ll see how things develop,” he added.
The comments came after Trump told Politico he believed it was time for Ukraine to hold elections.
“They haven’t had an election in a long time,” Trump said. “You know, they talk about a democracy, but it gets to a point where it’s not a democracy anymore.”
Ukrainians elected Zelenskyy, a former actor and comedian, after a two-round ballot held in March and April 2019. He did not win an absolute majority in the first round but garnered 73% of the vote in the second.
Trump also said that he was not ready to walk away from the peace process but that the parties involved have to “play ball.”
Trump and others in the administration have at times echoed Kremlin talking points about Ukraine, including that Ukraine is not a genuine democracy. While Trump has long maintained a cordial relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin despite their differences, ties with Zelenskyy have been notably rocky.
During a disastrous visit to the White House in February, Trump and Vice President JD Vance publicly chastised Zelenskyy and told him he wasn’t grateful enough to the U.S.
Putin, who has crushed dissent and independent media in Russia, launched a large-scale invasion of its much smaller neighbor in February 2022.
Zelenskyy has recently been on a no-holds-barred campaign to shore up support amid U.S.-supported talks aimed at ending the war. Earlier, he was in the Vatican meeting with Pope Leo XIV.
On Monday, he met with the leaders of Germany, France and the U.K., who are themselves struggling to find a place at the table in talks with Russia.
He also said Monday that Ukraine would not cede any land to Russia. “We have no legal right — under Ukrainian law, under our constitution, under international law — and honestly, we have no moral right, either,” Zelenskyy said.
Trump originally approved a 28-point peace plan to end the war that included Ukraine ceding its territory, among other demands seen as favoring Russia. Zelenskyy said Monday that negotiations led by the U.S. had whittled the original 28 points to 20, and while he believed in Trump’s commitment to ending the war, he did not trust Russia.
