WASHINGTON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed Wednesday that he is “ready” to leave office once Russia’s bloody invasion of his country comes to an end.
“If we finish [the] war with [the] Russians, I’m ready not to go for the second term because it’s not my goal — elections,” Zelensky told Axios in a wide-ranging interview.
“I wanted very much in a very difficult period of time to be with my country, help my country. My goal is to finish the war.”
Zelensky, 47, was elected to a five-year term as president in April 2019. The election scheduled for March 2024 has been postponed indefinitely with Ukraine under martial law following the Russian invasion in February 2022.
Some American critics of Zelensky had seized on the postponed elections to accuse Kyiv’s leader of seeking to enhance his power, with President Trump himself referring to Zelensky as a “dictator” back in February, when the relationship between the two men was at its lowest point.
But on Wednesday, Zelensky acknowledged that his countrymen may want “a leader with … a new mandate” to lead Ukraine into its post-war future.
Zelensky also left open the possibility of holding elections during a cease-fire with Russia, even in the absence of a permanent peace deal.
“During the cease-fire, I think security can give the possibility to have elections,” he said. “It can be so.”
Both Ukraine and the US have expressed support for a pause in the fighting to negotiate a longer-term deal, while Russia has repeatedly rejected efforts to bring Moscow to the negotiating table.
Zelensky met with Trump, 79, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday, with the Ukrainian telling Fox News host Bret Baier that he and Trump have “better relations than before.”
That same day, Trump released a scathing statement needling Russia as a “paper tiger” and predicting that Ukraine can win back all its Moscow-occupied territory and possibly “go further.”
Roughly 20% of Ukraine’s land is occupied by Russian invaders.
