Trump: Ukraine Has Gone Too Long Without Elections as War Drags On

President Donald Trump said in an interview with Politico that the time has come for Ukraine to hold new national elections, arguing that the country has moved dangerously far from democratic norms. He added that it is entirely possible that Volodymyr Zelensky would win again, but stressed that the Ukrainian people must be given a vote after years without one.

Photo: flickr.com by Gage Skidmore, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Donald Trump

"They haven’t had an election in a long time," Trump said. "You know, they talk about a democracy, but it gets to a point where it’s not a democracy anymore."

Trump Repeats His Call for Elections and Questions Kyiv’s Democratic Trajectory

The American president has repeatedly urged Kyiv to return to the ballot box. Earlier this year, he even called Zelensky a “dictator without elections,” though days later he claimed surprise when reminded of the remark, saying, “I said that? I can’t believe I said that.”

Ukraine’s presidential election was originally scheduled for late March 2024 but was postponed under martial law, which also coincided with the expiration of Zelensky’s five-year term in May. Since that moment, Moscow has openly referred to him as an illegitimate president.

The initial US peace proposal envisioned that Ukraine would hold elections within 100 days of signing a peace agreement.

Trump Challenges Claims About US Aid and Says War Favors Russia

When reminded by the Politico journalist that Trump’s son had suggested Washington might stop supporting Ukraine, Trump dismissed the comment as inaccurate—though “not entirely inaccurate.”

According to the American president, Russia holds the advantage because “at some point, strength usually wins,” and Zelensky “will have to pull himself together and start accepting reality.” Asked whether he believes Ukraine has “lost the war,” Trump replied that Kyiv has already “lost a lot of land.”

On Europe’s continued support for Ukraine, Trump said European leaders should assist Kyiv if they wish to do so, but argued that “generally, they’re not doing a very good job.”

Moscow Repeats Illegitimacy Claims and Says NATO Expansion Was Never a Real Prospect

The US president also argued that “long before Vladimir Putin” came onto the scene, it was widely understood that Ukraine would not join NATO. The new US National Security Strategy states that NATO should not be seen as a “permanently expanding alliance.” “If you look closely,” Trump added, “there aren’t that many left” to join.

Zelensky previously said Ukraine would hold elections only after the armed conflict with Russia ends, insisting that he remains open to “any elections.”

Putin has repeatedly called Zelensky illegitimate. As Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov explained in August, “We recognize him de facto as head of the regime. In that capacity we are ready to meet with him. But when it comes to signing legal documents, everyone must clearly understand that the signatory is legitimate.”

The Kremlin has long cited Ukraine’s NATO ambitions as one of the reasons for the start of the military operation, calling the possibility of Ukrainian membership “a threatening event.” Russia demands that Ukraine abandon its pursuit of NATO membership as part of any conflict settlement.

The US draft peace plan published in November included a clause requiring Ukraine to renounce NATO membership and obliging the alliance never to accept Kyiv in the future. CNN described this clause as one of the most “problematic.”

According to the network, negotiators discussed a scenario in which Ukraine would be unable to join NATO de facto under an agreement requiring approval by both NATO members and Russia. One source emphasized that the ultimate decision on this “delicate compromise” rests with Zelensky.