Ukraine’s leader reacts to US President Donald Trump’s suggestion that he is using the war as an excuse to avoid the election.
Published December 10, 2025
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has declared that his government is ready to hold elections within three months if the United States and other allies in Kiev can ensure the security of the voting process.
Zelensky made the statement on Tuesday in the face of renewed pressure from US President Donald Trump, who suggested in interviews with news outlets that Ukraine’s government was using Russia’s war against it as a pretext to avoid the election.
Recommended stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
Wartime elections are prohibited by Ukrainian law, and Zelenskiy’s term as the country’s elected president expired last year.
“I am ready for elections, and what I would also like to ask is that the United States, perhaps together with our European colleagues, support me in ensuring the security of elections,” Zelensky said in comments to reporters.
“And within the next 60 to 90 days, Ukraine will be ready to hold elections,” he said.
In a Politico news article published early Tuesday, President Trump was quoted as saying, “You know, they (Ukraine) are talking about democracy, but it’s gotten to the point where it’s no longer a democracy.”
President Zelenskiy dismissed suggestions that he was clinging to power as “totally inappropriate.”
He also said he would ask Congress to draft a new bill that would allow elections to be held under martial law.
Earlier this year, Ukraine’s parliament overwhelmingly approved a resolution affirming the legitimacy of Zelensky’s wartime presidency, arguing that it was constitutional to postpone presidential elections while the country fights Russian aggression.
In February, Trump accused Zelenskiy of being a “dictator,” echoing claims earlier made by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Zelenskiy and other officials have always dismissed the idea of holding elections amid frequent Russian airstrikes across the country, nearly 1 million troops on the front lines and millions more Ukrainians displaced. It is also unclear how Ukrainians, who live in one-fifth of the country occupied by Russia, will vote.
Opinion polls also show that Ukrainians oppose holding wartime elections, but they also want to bring new faces to a political landscape that has remained largely unchanged since the last national election in 2019.
Ukraine is seen as Russia-friendly and has rejected a U.S.-backed peace plan, but it also wants strong security from its allies to prevent new Russian aggression in the future.
Washington’s peace plan includes Ukraine handing over land not occupied by Russia, primarily the entire Donbas industrial zone, in exchange for security commitments, including Kiev’s desire to join the NATO military alliance.
