{"id":3311,"date":"2025-02-24T12:09:59","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T13:09:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/?p=3311"},"modified":"2025-02-24T13:56:54","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T13:56:54","slug":"eus-chief-diplomat-backs-zelenskys-refusal-to-hold-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/24\/eus-chief-diplomat-backs-zelenskys-refusal-to-hold-elections\/","title":{"rendered":"EU\u2019s chief diplomat backs Zelensky\u2019s refusal to hold elections"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although the Ukrainian leader\u2019s term ended last May, Kaja Kallas says there is \u201cno need\u201d for a vote while the conflict continues<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas has announced that she supports\u00a0 Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky\u2019s refusal to hold a presidential election.<\/p>\n

Although Zelensky\u2019s five-year presidential term expired in May 2024, no new elections have been held, with Zelensky claiming that it is \u201cnot the right time,\u201d <\/em>and citing martial law.\u00a0Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that he no longer considers Zelensky a legitimate head of state.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Monday ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Kallas said that \u201cthere is no need to hold elections\u201d<\/em> during wartime.<\/p>\n

She\u00a0noted the public feud last week when the US president claimed that\u00a0Zelensky is\u00a0\u201ca dictator without elections\u201d<\/em> and accused him of funneling US aid into a \u201cwar that couldn\u2019t be won.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>Trump also claimed last week that Zelensky\u2019s approval rating was at 4% and suggested that an election should be called.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe refuses to have elections. He\u2019s low in the real Ukrainian polls. How can you be high with every city being demolished?\u201d<\/em> Trump said, adding that in the meantime, the US is \u201csuccessfully negotiating an end to the war with Russia.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Zelensky responded by claiming that Trump is \u201cliving in a disinformation space\u201d<\/em> created by Moscow.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In tune with Zelensky, Kallas declared that \u201cit\u2019s clear that the Russian narrative is very strongly represented\u201d<\/em> in Trump\u2019s statement.\u00a0She stressed that for any peace deal to be effective, it would need to involve the Europeans and the Ukrainians.<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"FILE
Germany\u2019s Scholz hits out at Trump over \u2018dictator\u2019 jibe at Zelensky<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

She was referring to recent high-level US-Russian talks in Saudi Arabia, which frustrated the EU. Member states criticized Washington for sidelining Brussels and Kiev during the negotiations.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can discuss whatever you want with Putin, but if it comes to Ukraine and Europe, then Ukraine and Europe also have to agree to this deal,\u201d<\/em> Kallas told journalists.<\/p>\n

Last week, reports suggested that the EU is preparing a military aid package worth at least $6.2 billion for Ukraine. The package is expected to include 1.5 million artillery shells and air defense systems \u2013 one of the bloc\u2019s largest military aid commitments since the escalation of the conflict in 2022. Russia considers Zelensky \u201cillegitimate\u201d<\/em> and recognizes only the Ukrainian parliament and its speaker. Russian officials have warned that any treaties he signs could be challenged and questioned his ability to conclude lasting agreements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although the Ukrainian leader\u2019s term ended last May, Kaja Kallas says there is \u201cno need\u201d for a vote while the conflict continues \u00a0 The EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas has announced that she supports\u00a0 Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky\u2019s refusal to hold a presidential election. Although Zelensky\u2019s five-year presidential term expired in May 2024, no new…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3311"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3315,"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3311\/revisions\/3315"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}