Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday he was “ready” to hold new elections if security could be ensured for the poll, just hours after US President Donald Trump accused Kyiv of “using war” to avoid elections. Zelensky also said he hoped to send an amended plan to end the war with Russia to Washington on Wednesday.
“I am ready for the elections,” the Ukrainian president has told journalists, adding that he is asking Ukrainian lawmakers to prepare “proposals regarding the possibility of amending the legislative foundations and the law on elections during martial law”.
His comments come hours after Politico published an interview with Trump in which the US president accused Kyiv of “using war” to avoid elections.
Zelensky said he intends to send an updated plan to end the war with Russia to Washington on Wednesday, after it was amended following talks with European allies.
“We are working today (Tuesday) and will continue tomorrow (Wednesday). I think we will hand it over tomorrow,” Zelensky said in answer to a journalist’s question on whether Ukraine had already sent the plan to the US.
US President Donald Trump’s envoys have given Zelenskiy days to respond to Washington’s proposed peace agreement, the Financial Times reports, citing officials.
The proposed deal would see Ukraine accept territorial losses in return for unspecified US security guarantees.
Zelensky said on Monday that Kyiv had no legal or moral right to give up land to Russia in any deal aimed at ending Moscow’s nearly four-year invasion.
France24