Ukraine needs to hold presidential elections despite the ongoing state of war in the country. This was stated by U.S. President Donald Trump in an interview with Politico.
"I think now is the time to hold elections. They are using the war to avoid elections, but I think the Ukrainian people should have that choice," said the President of the United States.
According to Trump, the lack of elections in Ukraine for a long time negatively affects the situation with democracy in the country. He suggested that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky could retain his position as a result of the vote, but noted that he does not know who will be the winner.
What else did Trump say about Zelensky and Ukraine?
During the interview, the U.S. president compared Zelensky to the organizer of a traveling circus, Phineas Taylor Barnum, while discussing the White House's assistance to Ukraine during Joe Biden's presidency. He emphasized that as a result of the conflict with Russia, Kyiv has lost a quarter of the country's territory.
"[Barnum] could sell anything at any time. He said it didn’t matter whether it worked or not. But [Zelensky] is F. T. Barnum. He made the crooked Joe Biden give him $350 billion," Donald Trump stated.
According to Trump, during his first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Zelensky expressed a desire to "get Crimea back and gain NATO membership." He added that the statements from the representative of Kyiv sounded "not very courteous," and the impossibility of Ukraine joining the alliance was evident even before Putin took office.
"They have lost a lot of land, and it was very good land. (...) You definitely cannot call that a victory," Trump believes.
The head of the White House also complained about the difficulties in resolving the war with Russia in Ukraine and added that negotiations are hard to conduct due to the personal relationship between Putin and Zelensky. According to him, the level of hatred between the politicians is "colossal."
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