*Event date: 2025-01-02*
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected the idea of holding presidential elections while martial law remains in force, saying the country would violate its own laws by doing so. In an interview released on Jan. 2, he said Ukraine would not hold elections even if Russia made them one of the preconditions for negotiations.
The issue is rooted in Ukraine’s constitutional rules. The country was originally scheduled to hold a presidential election in March or April 2024, but the vote was postponed because the constitution does not allow elections under martial law. That law has been in place since Feb. 24, 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
The political stakes are not only domestic. Russian President Vladimir Putin has sought to use the delay to argue that Zelensky is illegitimate, saying authority should instead pass to parliament speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk. Kyiv rejects that argument as a distortion of the constitution. The Kyiv Independent report said Zelensky reiterated that the elected leadership continues to legally perform its duties until a new vote can take place.
That distinction matters because the question of legitimacy has become part of Russia’s broader information campaign around the war. By refusing elections under martial law, Zelensky is not creating a new rule but insisting on the one already in place. The point of his answer is that elections cannot simply be held because a foreign power wants them.
The interview also shows how Ukraine is trying to protect its constitutional order while under wartime conditions. A vote during martial law would raise practical and legal problems: security, access to polling, military mobilization and the rights of displaced voters are all difficult to reconcile with a national election in wartime. The report did not list those issues in detail, but they are the obvious backdrop to the legal position Zelensky defended.
His message was also aimed at the negotiation process itself. If elections were treated as a bargaining chip in talks with Moscow, that would shift the decision away from Ukrainian law and toward Russian demands. Zelensky’s response was to draw a line: constitutional procedure will govern Ukraine’s politics, not preconditions set by the invader.
That does not mean the election question disappears. It remains postponed, not canceled, and the next vote will eventually have to be held once martial law ends. But for now, the government’s position is clear. The country is still at war, the legal restrictions remain in force and the current officials continue in office until a lawful election becomes possible.
The statement is therefore both defensive and declarative. It pushes back against Russian claims and tells domestic and foreign audiences alike that Ukraine sees the integrity of its constitution as part of its wartime resilience.
