By Gloria Ogbonna
President Donald Trump, in a newly published interview on Tuesday, said he believes the time has come for Ukraine to move forward with a presidential election—despite the country remaining under martial law due to its ongoing war with Russia.
The comments were made during a nearly 45-minute interview at the White House on Monday with Politico’s White House Bureau Chief, Dasha Burns. Burns directly asked the president, “Is it time for Ukraine to hold an election, do you think?”
Trump responded without hesitation. “Yeah. I think so. It’s been a long time… hasn’t been doing particularly well. Yeah, I think it’s time. I think it’s an important time to hold an election,” he said.
He added that while Ukrainian officials have cited the war as the reason elections cannot be held, the Ukrainian people deserve the right to choose their next leader.
“They’re using war not to hold an election, but I would think the Ukrainian people should have that choice,” Trump stated. “And maybe Zelensky would win.
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1998381164847907267?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
I don’t know who would win, but they haven’t had an election in a long time. You know, they talk about a democracy, but it gets to a point where it’s not a democracy anymore.”
Ukraine’s constitution prohibits elections during martial law, which was declared after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. The country was due for a presidential election in 2024, but that constitutional requirement cannot be fulfilled unless martial law is lifted.
Recent polling shows shifting public sentiment toward President Volodymyr Zelensky. An October survey from the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) revealed that 75 percent of Ukrainians want Zelensky out of office after the war concludes.
Although Zelensky still retains significant wartime support, with 60 percent of respondents saying they trust him, his numbers have dropped sharply from the 90 percent surge in support immediately after the invasion began. Before the war, his trust rating hovered at just 37 percent.
Only 25 percent of Ukrainians say they would vote for Zelensky again, even though 41 percent believe he should continue participating in politics after the war.
Meanwhile, 36 percent want him to step away from politics entirely, and another 14 percent believe he should face criminal prosecution for certain actions taken during his presidency—though the poll did not specify which actions.
During the interview, Burns also questioned Trump on whether Zelensky was stalling efforts to end the war. Trump insisted that the Ukrainian leader must carefully review the latest peace proposal presented Sunday night.
“Maybe he’s read it over the night. It would be nice if he would read it, you know. A lot of people are dying. So, it would be really good if he’d read it,” Trump said. He added that Zelensky’s top aides responded positively to the proposal, though they indicated Zelensky himself had not yet reviewed it.
“His people loved the proposal. They really liked it. His lieutenants, his top people, they liked it, but they said he hasn’t read it yet. I think he should find time to read it,” Trump said, stressing the urgency of finding a path toward peace as casualties continue to mount.
Source Breitbrat
Original article
Comments