Zelensky’s Elections Gambit

By Noah Rothman

Wednesday, December 10, 2025

 

Whether it was attributable to cynicism or naïveté, Donald Trump and his subordinates have lent legitimacy to Vladimir Putin’s craven contention that Volodymyr Zelensky’s government didn’t merit Western support because it had not held an election since Russia invaded Ukraine for a second time. Trump’s functionaries seemed unperturbed by Ukraine’s constitutional proscriptions on elections in wartime or Putin’s naked contempt for the democratic process. But the argument has served as the nearest weapon to hand for Ukraine’s skeptics. Zelensky is attempting to disarm them.

 

Reportedly, U.S. officials are increasing the pressure on Zelensky to accede to Vladimir Putin’s terms for a temporary peace in Ukraine — terms that would compel Kyiv to surrender vast swaths of territory to the Russians. Zelensky attempted to put the ball back in Washington and Moscow’s court this week with a proposal for new national elections.

 

This week, Ukraine’s government announced its intention to lobby for parliamentary legislation that would allow Kyiv to circumvent proscriptions on wartime elections, but only if the fighting stops and the West manages to guarantee the security of the vote. If those conditions are met, Zelensky said, Ukraine can hold a national election within 60 to 90 days.

 

It’s a clever maneuver. If Trump’s objection to Zelensky’s tenure in office beyond his term isn’t entirely pretextual, he should support that initiative. The only obstacle to it is Moscow and its unrelenting campaign of violence against Ukrainian civilians. That should lead the White House to put the screws to Putin. If those screws fail to materialize, that would expose the degree to which the Trump administration views Ukraine and its dogged attachment to its own sovereignty as the primary obstacle to peace in Europe.

 

And that might be a risky political proposition for the Trump administration. As Defense One’s Meghann Myers wrote of the latest Reagan National Defense Survey, Americans do not view Ukraine’s cause as a lost one. “Support for sending weapons to Ukraine has also jumped nine points, up to 64 percent, compared to last year’s survey, with increases in support from both sides of the aisle,” she wrote. “And 70 percent overall, including 61 percent of Republicans and 77 of Democrats, say they don’t trust Russia to honor any peace agreement it might sign with Ukraine.”

 

If Zelensky manages to convince Trump, Russia, and Europe to back an election-related cease-fire, it would de facto establish the security architecture Ukraine has sought from its Western partners. If Trump and Russia fail to agree to those terms, it would demonstrate how little Zelensky’s critics actually care about his electoral legitimacy. Either way, the outcome of this gambit could prove useful to the Zelensky government.