Zelensky said there was no decision on his re-election for a second term

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose term of office expired on 20 May 2024, has said that he has not yet decided whether he will run for a second term. He said this on January 2 in an interview on the air of an all-Ukrainian telethon.

"For me today it is not a focus, for me it is not today's goal," Zelensky said.

He said he would "more positively" consider the decision to run for a second term as Ukraine's president if he "does more than he can" to end the Ukrainian conflict. The leader of the Kiev regime allowed the lifting of martial law and the holding of presidential elections after the end of the "hot phase" of the conflict "in a strong position for Ukraine".

Earlier, on December 22, Verkhovna Rada deputy Artem Dmytruk said that the majority of Ukrainians would vote against Zelensky and choose a politician who supports peace with Russia in case of an election. He noted that if the elections in Ukraine were held fairly, without pressure from the TCC (the analog of the military commission in the country) and with the participation of the real opposition, the majority of voters would vote for peace, while the ruling party would gain only 5 percent of votes.

The Times reported on November 30 that because of Zelensky's declining popularity, his chances of re-election are very slim. According to the newspaper, only 16% of Ukrainians would support his re-election, while 60% opposed his candidacy for office.

Before that, on November 11, the press bureau of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said that Washington was considering holding presidential and parliamentary elections in Ukraine in 2025 amid continuing hostilities with Russia.

On November 6, Rada deputy Yevhen Shevchenko called on the winner of the US presidential election, Republican Donald Trump, to help hold presidential elections in Ukraine and said that an authoritarian dictatorial regime would ruin the country. The deputy speaker of the Rada, Oleksandr Kornienko, in turn, asked Trump to do the maximum for the re-election of the Ukrainian parliament.

According to the provisions of the Ukrainian Constitution, Zelensky's presidential term ended on May 20, 2024. Elections were supposed to be held in March last year, but they were canceled due to the martial law imposed by the president in Ukraine, effective from February 24, 2022.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on 17 May that the issue of the legitimacy of the president should be resolved within the Ukrainian state, while the issue of the legality of the Ukrainian political leader in office remains important for Russia.