'Do international observers want to be placed in Pokrovsk?' — Zelensky criticizes calls for elections following Trump's comments
"If we held elections right now, it's understandable that for (Ukraine), in terms of security, it's the number one priority that we have a democratic situation, democratic elections, and that they are determined (to be legitimate)," Zelensky said, ahead of listing a number question surrounding concerns over how an democratic election would be conducted amid the ongoing war.
"This is just not right. How can we call an election in which half of the population of the country won't be able to vote in?" Zelensky question. "How will they be able to vote?"
"How will military personnel be able to vote? There's no way. How can we vote normally when today (Kyiv was) attacked with 267 drones?" he added.
Zelensky's remarks follow those of U.S. President Donald Trump who said on Feb. 18 that he believes Ukraine should hold new elections, alleging, without evidence. that Zelensky holds a "4% approval rating." Trump further called Zelensky a "dictator" in a post on his social media platform Truth Social on Feb. 19, accusing him of refusing to have elections.
A poll release the same day by the case of Ukraine (IBIF) project in partnership with the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) that around 63% of Ukrainians approve of Volodymyr Zelensky's actions as a president.
Ukraine has repeatedly said that it won't hold elections until the war is over, in line with martial law as Russia constantly bombards the country and occupies one-fifth of its territory.
Ukraine was scheduled to hold a presidential election in March or April 2024, concluding Zelensky's first five-year term. The vote was postponed as the country's constitution does not permit elections under martial law, which was declared on Feb. 24, 2022, at the onset of Russia's all-out invasion.
Earlier in the press conference, Zelensky said he was ready to step down as president if it means 'peace for Ukraine."
'I am focusing on security today and not in 20 years time. I don't plan to be in power for 10 years,' Zelensky told the forum.
Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to use the delay to portray Zelensky as "illegitimate," saying that the authority should pass to Parliament speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk, a claim rejected by Kyiv as a distortion of the constitution.
Read also: Zelensky willing to step down in exchange for peace
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'I can only imagine how people would have reacted if he had done that,' the governor said. 'Look, there have been times in my term as governor, when I've been so mad at Stuart Adams that I couldn't see straight on certain bills,' Cox said, without naming those instances. 'That has happened a couple of times. I can tell you this is not one of those times.' Cox said he believed Adams acted appropriately by not publicly weighing in on the bill or disclosing his relatives' involvement to other legislators other than his right-hand man, Senate Majority Leader Kirk Cullimore, R-Sandy. 'I think it was appropriate for the top person in the Senate not to weigh in on this bill, which is exactly what happened,' Cox said. In fact, Cox — who signed the bill after it passed last year — said he's 'very grateful that I had no idea that this was impacting someone in his family, in his granddaughter's family, because it may have changed the way I reacted to the bill.' 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