U.S. pushes for Ukraine to hold presidential, parliamentary elections by late 2025

Reuters reported this, citing its own sources in Washington, Kyiv, and Donald Trump’s special representative on Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg.

Kellogg emphasized that Ukraine “needs to hold” presidential and parliamentary elections, which were suspended during the war with Russia.

“Most democratic nations have elections in their time of war. I think it is important they do so,” Kellogg said. “I think it is good for democracy. That’s the beauty of a solid democracy, you have more than one person potentially running.”

It is noted that Trump and Kellogg have provided few details about their strategy and the timing of ending the war in Ukraine.

Trump’s plan is still evolving, and no political decisions have been made. However, Kellogg and other White House officials have recently discussed ways to push Ukraine to agree to elections as part of an initial ceasefire with Russia, according to two people familiar with these discussions and a former U.S. official.

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Two sources within the Trump administration said that there is ongoing debate on whether to insist on an initial ceasefire before attempting to reach a more lasting agreement.

If presidential elections were held in Ukraine, the winner could be responsible for negotiating a long-term pact with Moscow, the sources believe.

Sources in the Ukrainian government told Reuters that the Trump administration has not yet officially demanded that Ukraine hold presidential elections by the end of the year.

Washington had raised the issue of elections with senior officials in Zelenskyy’s office in 2023 and 2024 during the Biden administration, according to two former senior U.S. officials.

State Department and White House representatives told their Ukrainian counterparts that elections are crucial for maintaining international and democratic norms.

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However, Ukrainian officials warned Washington in discussions over the past few months that holding elections in such an unstable period in Ukraine’s history would divide Ukrainian leadership and could potentially lead to Russian influence campaigns, sources said.

A source in the Ukrainian government told Reuters that Putin is using the issue of elections as a false pretext to derail future negotiations.

“Putin is setting a trap by claiming that if elections do not take place in Ukraine, he can later ignore any agreements,” the source said.

Had martial law not been introduced after Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, regular parliamentary elections would have taken place in 2023, and presidential elections in 2024.

• Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is personally promoting the narrative that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is ‘illegitimate’.