Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky insisted “no one is clinging to power” and he is ready to hold national elections, but insists there will be no vote without a ceasefire and solid security guarantees from the U.S., making a vote any time soon unlikely.
The possibility of fresh elections in Ukraine to both get the public’s approval for a peace deal, and renew President Volodymyr Zelensky’s democratic mandate or choose a successor, suddenly burst into the open this week but was quickly tampered down by Kyiv. That his position on holding now very overdue elections in wartime has essentially not changed has now been reinforced by President Zelensky himself who has said there will be no vote until his country has security guarantees and a ceasefire, both major asks.
While Ukrainian downplaying of the imminent election claims initially came from unnamed government insiders, President Zelensky then added his own remarks, telling AFP “We will move to elections when all the necessary security guarantees are in place… I have said it’s very simple to do: establish a ceasefire, and there will be elections”. Now he has spoken again in uncertain terms, telling U.S. magazine The Atlantic that while elections are theoretically possible, they depends on Russia and the United States acquiescing to Ukraine’s negotiating positions.
Although stating “we’re not afraid of anything. Are we ready for elections? We’re ready. Are we ready for a referendum? We’re ready”, President Zelensky also said the idea of Ukraine holding elections at all are Russian propaganda — possibly implying something about now longstanding American demands that Ukraine defend its democracy by being one — and that it needs things in return. He told the magazine: “No one is clinging to power… I am ready for elections. But for that we need security, guarantees of security, a cease-fire.”
These remarks make crystal-clear that the Catch-22 of the war and its peace process remain fundamentally unresolved, with no meaningful progress likely unless one of the three main parties blinks.
On one hand, Ukraine wants the war to end but won’t stop fighting until the Western alliance gives it cast-iron security guarantees that they will go to war if it is ever attacked again, a NATO-like arrangement if not actual membership of the alliance. The United States wants peace but doesn’t want to inadvertently create a nuclear trap in eastern Europe by committing itself to total war to defend a country that is already one-fifth occupied by a hostile power. And Russia claims to want peace, at least, but doesn’t want to give up the land it has conquered in the past 12 years, or see Kyiv become a NATO ally.
Kyiv’s position has been that it has already been flexible on its demands at the negotiating table and it is time for the other parties to do the same. Per The Atlantic interview, Ukraine says it has already “all but given up” its demand that when the war ends, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his officers are brought before a war crimes tribunal and is willing to even give ground on some of the most sensitive discussions of all. As stated: “Two of [Zelensky’s] advisers told [The Atlantic] that Ukraine may be ready to accept the hardest concession of all: giving up control of land in the eastern Donetsk region”.
As reported:
U.S. President Trump has been pressuring Zelensky to renew his democratic mandate for almost a year, having told the Ukrainian leader in February 2025 that if they “want a seat at the table” in eventual peace talks, elections would be necessary. Then, in December 2025, President Trump added, ” I think it’s time. I think it’s an important time to hold an election… They’re using war not to hold an election, but, I would think the Ukrainian people would–should have that choice.
“And maybe Zelensky would win. I don’t know who would win, but they haven’t had an election in a long time. You know, they talk about a democracy, but it gets to a point where it’s not a democracy anymore”.
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