Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked parliament to prepare a “legislative framework” to hold the country’s first national elections since 2019 as he faces mounting pressure from President Donald Trump and a growing corruption scandal.
Zelenskyy said this week that Ukraine can hold elections “in the next 60 to 90 days” if the United States will provide aid and assistance in the war with Russia. The wartime president’s inner circle is embroiled in a corruption scandal that has significantly threatened his administration’s firm hold on power. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has been ratcheting up pressure to accept President Trump’s proposed peace deal.
“It’s an important time to hold an election,” Trump told Politico in an interview published Tuesday. “They’re using war not to hold an election. … It gets to a point where it’s not a democracy anymore.”
Zelenskyy has previously insisted that elections were impossible under martial law, which went into effect at the outset of Russia’s attack in 2022. Congress is planning to shore up Ukraine’s defense with $400 million appropriated in the latest version of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act.
The new version of the bill also allocates $200 million to U.S. European Command, with $175 million of that total designated for security projects in Baltic states that border Russia.
Zelenskyy said that legislators would have to change “the legislative framework and the law on elections during martial law” in order to hold elections. Zelenskyy’s popularity has remained relatively high during the war years, and an August Gallup poll showed 67% of Ukrainians support the president.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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