This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has claimed that Ukrainian authorities are planning to hold presidential elections by the end of this year.
“Write it down — October 26 this year,” Poroshenko said in an interview published by the Ukrainian news site Censor.net on February 16.
Poroshenko, who currently heads one of the leading opposition parties in Ukraine, claims that the country’s state printing service is now calculating the number of ballots needed to hold the elections.
He said he got this information from anonymous insiders in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office who were also quoted by local media outlets.
“According to our sources, the [Ukrainian] Election Commission is starting to make changes in the voter register. […] This is solely for the purpose of preparing for elections,” he said.
However, the parliamentary leader of Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party, denied Poroshenko’s claim.
“During martial law, elections are impossible to hold […] The leaders of all parties have agreed that elections will not be held until at least six months after the end of martial law,” Davyd Arakhamia said in a statement on Telegram.
Zelenskyy’s five-year term in office was supposed to end last year on May 20.
A presidential election was to have taken place in March or April 2024, but was postponed because the country is still under martial law. Under the Ukrainian Constitution, Zelenskyy must continue to perform his duties until a new head of state is elected.
Ukraine has been under martial law since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. It has been extended in 90-day intervals 14 times by parliament, with the most recent extension running until May 9.
Poroshenko’s claim on February 16 regarding election preparations came days after Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) said that Kyiv had imposed sanctions on the ex-president, including an asset freeze and a ban on withdrawing capital from the country.
“Anyone who has undermined Ukraine’s national security and helped Russia must be held accountable,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram on February 13, the day after the sanctions were imposed.
Poroshenko slammed the move, calling it “unconstitutional” and “politically motivated.”
“The sanctions imposed against me as the leader of the opposition and the fifth president carry absolutely illegal restrictions,” he said on February 13.
One of Ukraine’s richest men, who primarily made his fortune building a confectionery empire after the breakup of the Soviet Union, Poroshenko served as president from 2014 to 2019, when he lost out to Zelenskyy in his bid for a second term.
Seen as a possible candidate in any future Ukrainian presidential contest, Poroshenko had previously rejected the idea of holding elections while the country is at war, saying in a visit to Paris last month that the only “winner” of such a vote would be Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Poroshenko said Putin would use propaganda and a “fifth column” to undermine Ukraine during any election campaign.
In an interview with Reuters last week, U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy for Russia and Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said Washington wants Kyiv to hold elections, possibly by the end of this year.
When asked about that possibility, Zelenskyy told The Guardian newspaper that Ukrainians were alarmed by such statements.
“It is very important for Kellogg to come to Ukraine. Then he would understand the people and all our circumstances,” Zelenskyy said.
Many analysts and politicians have cited concerns over security, displaced voters, and infrastructure as major impediments to Ukraine holding any type of legitimate election under the current circumstances.
Kellogg is expected to visit Ukraine on February 20, Zelenskyy said at a virtual press conference with Ukrainian reporters on February 17.
