Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky plans to announce plans for presidential elections and a referendum on February 24, the fourth anniversary of the invasion. The Financial Times writes this, citing Ukrainian and European officials involved in the planning and other sources informed on the matter. Ukraine has reportedly begun planning elections alongside a referendum on a possible peace deal with Russia after the Trump administration pressured Kiev to hold both votes by May 15 or risk losing US-proposed security guarantees.
According to Ukrainian and Western officials and other FT sources, Zelensky’s vote planning comes at a time of strong pressure from the White House on Kiev to conclude peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia in the spring. Last Friday, the Ukrainian president declared that the US “says it wants to do everything by June, so that the war ends” and that “they want a clear program”. Calling elections – underlines FT – would mark a radical political turning point for a president who has repeatedly argued that such votes are impossible while the country remains under martial law, millions of Ukrainians are displaced and around 20% of the country is under Russian occupation.
It is “premature” to comment on the alleged decision of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to announce the holding of elections and a referendum on February 24, according to what the Financial Times writes. The Kremlin said this, underlining that so far there are only media reports but nothing official.
«It is still premature to discuss it – said the spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, quoted by the Tass agency -. We actually have an exchange of such messages through the press from some sources. A source stated that, presumably, preparation for the elections has begun, then a source from the administration, from the Kiev regime office, stated that this is not the case, denying this information.”
According to President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, it is necessary to carefully observe these information flows, but “still rely on primary sources.” “And there have been no such statements yet from primary sources,” he underlined.