Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he is ready to hold national elections if Kyiv’s allies can ensure security during wartime. His presidential term expired in May, but Ukraine’s constitution bans elections under martial law. Zelensky said he has asked lawmakers to draft proposals on how election laws could be amended as the U.S. and European partners urge clarity on Ukraine’s democratic timeline.
00:03Not only that, but I'm now asking, and I'm saying this openly, for the United States to help me, possibly together with our European colleagues, to ensure security for the elections.
00:12Then, in the next 60 to 90 days, Ukraine will be ready to hold elections.
00:17I personally have the will and the readiness to do so.
00:20Furthermore, since this is how things have turned out, I'm asking the members of our faction, in principle our parliamentarians, to prepare legislative proposals on the possibility of changing the legislative framework and the law on elections during martial law.
00:37Let's bring in DW correspondent Nick Connolly, who's joining us from Kyiv.
00:40So, Nick, Zelensky says that he's willing to hold elections.
00:44How exactly would this work, and is that something that many Ukrainians want?
00:50Well, we heard Zelensky there saying that it would happen if security were provided, and if parliamentarians want it to happen.
00:59Those are two very, very big ifs.
01:01I can't really see it happening until there's at least some kind of ceasefire.
01:04Realistically, how are soldiers going to vote?
01:07How are people near the front lines, where there are constant drone attacks going to vote?
01:11That is all very difficult to see happening.
01:13But equally, this is about Zelensky showing openness to what the Trump White House wants of him, right?
01:18We've had Trump recently in frustration at what Trump sees as Zelensky's unwillingness to sign a deal and basically end this problem in a hurry,
01:26as Trump wants asking out loud about Zelensky's legitimacy.
01:30As you mentioned there, the Ukrainian constitution doesn't allow for elections during martial law.
01:35So I think for now this is more about the kind of rhetorical kind of optics about Zelensky showing some openness there.
01:40But whether it actually happens, whether those MPs sign off on that, I think it's still unclear.
01:44As for the kind of public opinion, even people who are very, very critical of Zelensky,
01:48of those corruption scandals we've seen around Zelensky in the last couple of weeks, they are not asking for elections.
01:52They are not pushing for elections.
01:54There's been basically consensus in this country since Russia invaded in 2022 to leave internal politics for the future,
01:59for the time after the war and to focus on basically, you know, surviving as a nation.
02:04And I think that is going to be a real danger for Ukraine if internal politics are reactivated
02:08and you get all those kind of different parties trying to jockey for influence,
02:12that then Ukraine stops paying attention to the front lines and gets more occupied with itself.
02:16And that is obviously something that the Russian side really wants,
02:18wants Ukraine to have, you know, big internal divisions, potentially street protests,
02:24different political parties fighting each other rather than focusing on the front lines.
02:27So it is a real dangerous kind of, you know, prospect.
02:30And lots of people here are very worried about the idea of elections during wartime.
02:34Nick, Kiev has been under immense U.S. pressure.
02:36What else are the Trump administration's demands?
02:41Well, the big thing for now seems to be the demand that Ukraine sign off on basically giving up Donetsk region,
02:47even the bits of Donetsk region that Ukraine still controls, withdrawing without a fight.
02:52That is obviously something that the Russians have been asking for,
02:54but that is basically political poison for President Zelensky.
02:57You can imagine soldiers coming back from the front lines asking,
03:00why were we in those trenches for so many years if we were just going to hand it over without a shot fired?
03:06So that is something that is basically a kind of political time bomb for Zelensky if he were to agree to it.
03:11And you can't really see him signing off on that.
03:13He's already said that he doesn't have the legal or moral right to do that.
03:16But that is the Russian kind of demand.
03:19Again, people here in Ukraine think that's about destabilizing Ukraine in the future so that Russia can come back and take more territory.
03:25And I think from the Ukrainian side, the big kind of unclear, unresolved issue is security guarantees, right?
03:31NATO seemingly off the table for now, but some kind of hard and fast legally binding security guarantees,
03:36not just from the Europeans, but also from the U.S. side.
03:38That has been a key Ukrainian demand.
03:40And there's no real sign that the Trump team, let alone his negotiators, Witkoff and Kushner, are offering anything that comes close.
03:46And Nick, new data is showing that Ukraine faces a military aid shortfall as its European allies struggle to plug the U.S. gap.
03:55What sort of impact is that now potentially having on the battlefield?
04:01I think, Sarah, we haven't seen it yet because there's always a significant lag, right, between the money arriving and then those deliveries coming.
04:07But I think the only obvious source of that money is the Russian assets held in Belgium, right?
04:12And for now, the Belgians are worried about confiscating rather than freezing that money because of legal repercussions in the future.
04:18But that is basically the only game in town.
04:20And the Europeans now have to work on that to provide Ukraine with more money next year.
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