President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he is taking “calmly” the fact that his American counterpart Donald Trump is talking about the need to hold elections in Ukraine. He believes Trump can say whatever he wants about him personally, but not about Ukraine. The head of state told journalists this on 27 October.
Zelenskyy believes he is one of the tools Ukraine must use. His rhetoric is aimed at ensuring Ukraine’s needs are responded to quickly.
“President Trump can say whatever he wants, personally about me, but not about Ukraine. When he says something about Ukraine, I respond, because I have that responsibility — to defend our state. As for my rhetoric: if you speak very cautiously about something or someone, it takes a long time to achieve results. But that is only if you have that time. For example, if you have the necessary amount of anti-ballistic defence. If something switches off somewhere or something happens with the diesel — you can quietly, cautiously send signals. But when you are living from night to night — and now there are constant strikes even during the day — and you have a shortage of anti-ballistic defence, and something else is switching off, then you simply do not have time for ‘quiet signals’,” he commented.
Zelenskyy added that he has already spoken about the need for a ceasefire for a defined period in order to hold elections safely.
“People who raise this issue of elections probably have some goals of their own, but they are certainly not thinking about Ukraine, security, or the state. How can you hold elections during a war? It will definitely divide and break our state. That is what I think. Many people, in my view, share that opinion. The law and the Constitution give a clear answer to this question, because everything is written there accordingly. But if the answer provided by Ukrainian law and the Ukrainian Constitution, the political answer, the public answer that there cannot be elections during a war is not enough, then we need to find some other answers as well. Time is needed to ensure the security of the electoral process. At least six months are needed to prepare elections. And during the war or immediately after the end of the war — I cannot say how much time is needed. It depends on when and how we end the war, what security guarantees there will be for Ukraine, and so on,” he said.
- Russia was the first to talk about the need to hold elections in Ukraine, and after the change of power in the United States, the American administration did as well. Donald Trump made such statements last year, and this year returned to the topic amid a sharpening of rhetoric towards Ukraine.