Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that he would hold elections in Ukraine if Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to a 60-day ceasefire, comments that came after President Trump said Ukraine needed a new president to reach a deal with Russia.
Zelensky’s term expired in May 2024, but he has remained in power because no elections have been held, and he has continued to reject the growing calls within Ukraine to hold a vote.
Trump said on Saturday that he suggested Ukraine “get a new leader who can make a deal because he could have made many deals and for some reason he never does.”
Responding to Trump, Zelensky said in an interview with ABC News that Trump should tell Putin to agree to a 60-day ceasefire. “So please tell Putin, give us two months, 60 days off. Total ceasefire, 60 days, and we will organize elections,” he said. “Of course, we will be ready for any choice of our people, exactly Ukrainian people.”
Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials have justified not holding an election by pointing to Ukraine’s constitution, which prohibits elections during martial law, first declared after Russia’s invasion and extended since, though Zelensky suggested back in 2023 that he could hold one if the US and other Western countries paid for it.
Zelensky also offered criticism of a deal Trump announced that would involve the US importing Russian diesel, calling it a “birthday gift” to Putin that would allow Russia to “kill us, kill our children.”
Trump also lashed out at Zelensky on Saturday over Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil refineries, as he’s attempting to shift blame for the global energy crisis from the US war with Iran to the Russia-Ukraine war. However, it’s been widely reported that Ukraine’s attacks on Russian energy infrastructure are supported by US intelligence.
