President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that elections can be held when there is security for their holding.
Points of attention
- Elections in Ukraine are a domestic political issue that should be decided by the Ukrainian people, not influenced by Putin.
- Zelenskyy stresses the importance of security and compliance with the law for holding fair and transparent elections.
- Ukrainian citizens living in Russia may also have the right to vote, as Putin cites data suggesting a significant number of Ukrainians in Russia.
Zelenskyy harshly responded to Putin's ravings about the elections in Ukraine
The illegitimate President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, cannot decide when and in what format the elections will be held in Ukraine. This was stated by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during a joint briefing with the Prime Minister of Portugal, Luis Montenegro.
Answering the question about whether, if there are elections in Ukraine, they will also be held in the temporarily occupied territories, Zelenskyy emphasized that "it is not for Putin to decide when and in what format the elections will be held in Ukraine, because these are exclusively Ukrainian elections, of the people of Ukraine, of the citizens of Ukraine."
He is definitely not a citizen of Ukraine, and therefore he will definitely not influence anything. And certainly not the result.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
President of Ukraine
He also noted that Ukrainian citizens vote in the elections:
Here we can ensure fair, transparent elections. There are always representatives, foreign observers, who record the legitimacy of the elections. There is also, of course, the practice of foreign voting.
At the same time, in the current situation, he emphasized, "if we get to or when we get to the elections, there will be a little bit of complexity due to the number of Ukrainians, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has all the tasks for this, they have already started working on it."
They have contacts with our partners abroad. For this, we need to approach the possible infrastructure abroad to make it comfortable for voting.
Zelenskyy emphasized that "elections can be held when there is security for their holding, and then I think that a large number of Ukrainians from abroad will come to Ukraine."
Elections cannot be held in the territories not controlled by Ukraine, temporarily occupied, because it is clear how they will be held. As Russia always does. It first talks about the results of even its own internal elections, and then counts the votes.
Zelenskyy added that the elections depend on two things: security and legislation:
If during the war, the legislation must be somehow... Find steps for change. But something must be done about security. This is the most important thing. The opportunities for Ukrainians to vote, - said Zelenskyy and added that servicemen who defend the state must also vote.
Speaking about security issues, the president noted that "we have already spoken with American partners - they raised this issue."
If they are violating it, it means they know how to help us ensure safe elections. This could primarily be a ceasefire or an end to the war, or a ceasefire at least for the duration of the elections.
Putin previously said he was "ready to think" about stopping strikes deep into Ukrainian territory for the duration of the elections.
He expressed the opinion that Ukrainian citizens living in Russia also have the right to vote. Putin cited data according to which there are supposedly between 5 and 10 million Ukrainian citizens living in Russia.
