Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would be ready to step down after the war with Russia is over, in an interview published on Sept. 25.
Zelenskyy said he would call for elections and would not seek reelection as president if a lasting cease-fire between the warring countries could be reached.
“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.”
Zelenskyy told Axios he will ask Ukraine’s Parliament to organize elections if a cessation of hostilities between Moscow and Kyiv is achieved.
A presidential election was slated to be held in 2024 but was suspended in accordance with the martial law that Ukraine was placed under following Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
Under Ukraine’s constitution, elections are prohibited during martial law.
Zelenskyy, who was elected as Ukraine’s sixth president in May 2019, has now been in the post for more than a year beyond the five-year term limit for the office.
Ukrainian presidents are allowed a maximum of two consecutive terms.
Russia has often questioned Zelenskyy’s legitimacy as a leader because of the lack of elections, and he has also been criticized by U.S. President Donald Trump on the issue.
However, during more than three years of war, Zelenskyy has maintained a high level of public trust.
Some 34 percent of those polled said they did not trust him.
He also continues to enjoy the support of many European leaders.
During his speech at the United Nations in New York City, he said that Ukraine has much to offer its allies and partners in the expanding drone arms race.
Noting recent developments in unmanned weapons systems and artificial intelligence, Zelenskyy told the assembly, “We are now living through the most destructive arms race in human history.”
The Ukrainian president touted his country’s successes in employing drones to slow the march of the numerically superior Russian military.
“Ukraine doesn’t have the big fat missiles dictators love to show off in parades, but we do have drones that can fly up to 3,000 kilometers. We had no choice but to build them to protect our right to life,” he said.
“Control over the sea used to depend on having a big navy. Ukraine doesn’t have a big fleet, but we succeeded in the Black Sea. We pushed what’s left of the Russian navy into a remote base, and we did it with sea drones.”
Following his meeting with Zelenskyy on Sept. 23, the U.S. president said he believed Kyiv could recapture all of its land taken by Russia—which currently holds about one-fifth of the country—and that it should act now, with Moscow facing economic problems.
