Overview
- Responding to U.S. pressure, Zelensky said he is ready to run and asked parliament to draft amendments while calling on the U.S. and Europe to provide security so voting, including for service members, can proceed within 60–90 days.
- President Trump said the time has come for Ukrainian elections, and envoy Keith Kellogg has promoted a peace plan element envisioning a vote within roughly 100 days after martial law is lifted.
- Ukraine’s Central Election Commission chief Oleg Didenko reiterated that organizing nationwide elections would take more than three months after hostilities end and signaled Kyiv may seek legal changes to extend the current timelines.
- Polling cited by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology indicates about 63% of Ukrainians favor elections only after the war ends, with displaced voters and nearly 5.9 million refugees complicating credible voter rolls.
- Russian officials and pro‑Moscow figures dismissed Zelensky’s stated readiness as illegitimate or performative, while domestic scrutiny has intensified following a corruption scandal linked to Timur Mindich and the reported resignation of aide Andriy Yermak.