Volodymyr Zelensky: Ukraine is ready to hold elections during a two-month ceasefire if the US puts pressure on Russia.
Ukraine is ready to hold elections subject to a two-month ceasefire, Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated at the Munich Security Conference.
“Give us a two-month ceasefire, and we'll go to the polls. That's all. Give us a ceasefire, give us security, give us infrastructure… we need many days to prepare,” he said, according to meduza.io.
According to Zelenskyy, the US can achieve such a ceasefire by putting pressure on Russia: “Put pressure on Putin, achieve a ceasefire, then our parliament will change the law, and we will go to elections if they are necessary. If the Americans need elections in Ukraine and if the Russians need elections in Ukraine, we are open to it.”
Ukraine, he added, could declare a similar “truce for the Russians” if they, in return, held fair elections in their country.
Ukrainian law prohibits holding presidential and parliamentary elections during martial law. Due to Russia's invasion, parliamentary and presidential elections in Ukraine were not held on schedule. Russian authorities are using this to claim Volodymyr Zelenskyy is “illegitimate.”
In December 2025, US President Donald Trump, amid peace talks, declared that “the time had come” to organize presidential elections in Ukraine. Zelenskyy then responded that he was ready to hold elections within 60-90 days if the US and Europe provided security.
In February, the Financial Times reported, citing sources, that Zelenskyy plans to announce presidential elections and a referendum on the fourth anniversary of the conflict with Russia, February 24. The Ukrainian president said he was “heard of this for the first time.”
