Zelensky said when he will leave the presidency

^{Photo: Press Service of the President of Ukraine}
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he would not hold on to his post and would be ready to leave it when the war is over and Ukraine is secure. He said this on the Meischberger talk show on the German ARD television channel.

“I am ready for anything, absolutely everything. For a long and lasting peace. As a person, as a citizen, as a father. I will not cling to anything. I am the president of Ukraine because 73 percent of the people voted for me, and today I am the president of Ukraine because I am supported by the majority of my country,” he said.

Zelensky was asked if he was ready to leave his post if the peace treaty was signed “without Zelensky alone.” The politician stressed that Russia wants to get rid of him not physically, as at the beginning of the war, but politically.

“This is understandable. I am a very inconvenient person for Putin,” said the Ukrainian leader. Zelensky noted that he was doing “what a president should do in wartime.”

The United States wants to hold presidential and parliamentary elections in Ukraine by the end of 2025, especially if a peace agreement is reached. The next presidential elections in Ukraine were supposed to be held on March 31, 2024. They were not held due to martial law in the country. The Constitution of Ukraine does not directly prohibit holding presidential elections during martial law. However, such a ban is established at the level of the law “On the legal regime of martial law.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly claimed that negotiations cannot be held with the Ukrainian head of state, who has “lost his legitimacy.” Because, according to Putin, Zelensky “has no right to sign anything due to his illegitimacy.”

US calls for elections, Ukraine responds

US special envoy Keith Kellogan has called for parliamentary and presidential elections in Ukraine by the end of 2025. Dmytro Lytvyn, the Ukrainian president's communications adviser, has rejected this. He stressed that this is not a way to intimidate Putin.

If the plan is only a ceasefire and elections, then this is a failed plan - Putin cannot be intimidated with just these two things, he said.

According to Lytvyn, Moscow "continues to increase the production of missiles and ammunition, find new ways to circumvent sanctions and make money from oil.

Of course, not all of these weapons are created to respect democratic neighbors. Russia's military alliance with North Korea is not related to respecting the ceasefire. Therefore, of course, we would prefer to see a deeper approach from the officials of the main partners, said Zelensky's adviser. Follow “Zamin” news on “Telegram”