Zelensky rejects Putin's demand for elections to be held in Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has responded with sharp criticism to Russian President Vladimir Putin's demands for new elections in his country.

"It is not for Putin to decide when and in what format elections take place in Ukraine," he said at a press conference in Kiev during a visit by Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro. He promised that Putin would not be able to influence a possible vote on the future Ukrainian president.

The criticism was triggered by Putin's statements on Friday at his annual press conference, where he not only once again demanded presidential elections in the neighbouring country he invaded and criticized the current Ukrainian leadership as illegitimate, but also insisted that Ukrainians living in Russia should participate in the vote.

Putin said there are between 5 million and 10 million Ukrainians in Russia. There are no diplomatic missions of Ukraine in Russia, where citizens abroad would normally vote. Putin's election official, Ella Pamfilova, said that the Russian authorities could organize the voting there.

"Ukrainian citizens who are in Ukraine in the Ukrainian-controlled areas will vote," Zelensky said in response.

Only there could honest and transparent elections be guaranteed, he said. In addition, there is the usual practice of voting in foreign missions.

"In the areas not controlled by Ukraine, no elections can be held because it is clear that they would be conducted there as Russia always does," he said, referring to international criticism of the questionable fairness of elections in Russia.

Putin, who ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, has repeatedly stated since last year that Zelensky is no longer legitimate due to his expired term.

Kyiv, however, points to martial law, which prohibits elections during wartime, thereby extending Zelensky's term. Internationally, Zelensky is still recognized as the Ukrainian president.

Recently, however, US President Donald Trump adopted Putin's demand for new elections in Ukraine. Zelensky expressed his willingness to do so but demanded a ceasefire during the election to ensure the security of the vote.

Putin's re-election in March 2024 was also sharply criticized as illegitimate in Western countries. The German government, for instance, classified the vote as "neither free nor fair."

Real opposition candidates were not allowed, there was a climate of intimidation, and there is no freedom of expression, said the then spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann. Russia, she said, is now a dictatorship.