Ukrainian official denies plans to call elections soon despite pressure from Trump

Kyiv – President Volodymyr Zelenskyy does not plan to make an announcement about the upcoming presidential election on February 24, an adviser to the Ukrainian leader told CBS News on Wednesday, after a report suggested he would schedule a national vote due to pressure from President Trump.

“There is no change in the negotiations that will lead to the president making this announcement,” said the adviser who did not want to be named.

The Financial Times previously reported that Zelenskyy planned to announce that presidential elections would be held as soon as May during a speech on February 24, the day that will mark four years since Russia launched its all-out invasion.

Zelenskyy he told reporters in Kyiv last week that the Trump administration was pushing Ukraine and Russia to agree to a deal to end the war in June.

“The Americans are proposing that the parties end the war at the beginning of this summer and they will probably put pressure on the parties to comply with this plan,” Zelenskyy said.

Mr. Trump has at times been highly critical of Zelenskyy, including comments last year when he called him “a dictator without elections.” But Ukrainian politicians point out that under the country’s constitution, general elections cannot be held during martial law – which has been in place since Russia began its war.

Can elections take place in Ukraine as the war continues?

In December, President Trump renewed that line of criticism, accusing Zelenskyy of “using war” to avoid the election in an interview with Politico.

The Ukrainian leader responded to Mr. Trump, at the time, said the election could be held if the US and Europe were willing to “ensure security” in his country amid Russia’s ongoing attacks.

Large public gatherings have been banned in Ukraine and a curfew remains in place under martial law aimed at protecting people’s health. Meanwhile, Russia’s deadly airstrikes show no signs of abating.

In January alone, Russia hit Ukraine with a record 5,717 bombs and missiles, according to an analysis by the Ukrainian group Oko Gora + News and Analytics. The bombing raids were also incessant. Officials said one plane hit a civilian’s house overnight in Kharkiv regionhe killed a father and his three toddlers and seriously injured his pregnant wife.

In addition to security risks, experts say legal and operational obstacles also make holding elections during wartime almost impossible. According to Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, it is illegal to hold parliamentary or presidential elections under martial law.

The war has also driven many Ukrainian voters out of the country, and there is little infrastructure to allow remote voting. As of November 2024, there were about 5.2 million Ukrainian refugees abroad, according to the Center for Economic Strategy, while the United Nations Organization for Migration estimates that another 3 million Ukrainians have been internally displaced and will not be able to vote at local polling stations.

For all those reasons, Ukrainian officials say elections will not be held before the ceasefire goes into effect.

Many also say that any general election should include or be accompanied by a referendum on whether the Ukrainian people will back down – or reject – the terms of any agreement to end the war, which would involve Ukraine making territorial concessions, although Zelenskyy has since withdrawn.

According to the presidency, such a referendum can only be legal if more than half of the country’s eligible voters can participate.

“Elections are just one part of the peace process,” an adviser to Ukraine’s president told CBS News on Wednesday. “We will vote on all points of the peace plan together, and we will not be able to choose the election separately.”