Ukraine cited Zelensky's illegitimacy after Callas' words about Lukashenko

Ukrainian journalist Diana Panchenko on January 26 cited the illegitimacy of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose term expired on May 20, 2024, following the words of European diplomacy chief Kai Kallas, who questioned the legitimacy of Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.

"Does Zelensky, who canceled the election, have legitimacy? Does [Romanian President Klaus] Iohannis, who canceled the election results, have legitimacy?" - replied the journalist under Callas' post on social network X (formerly Twitter).

The day before, the head of European diplomacy wrote a post on X in which she questioned Lukashenko's legitimacy.

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Earlier, January 8, Reuters reported that the ruling coalition of Romania had agreed to hold repeat presidential elections in two rounds on May 4 and May 18. Until then, the outgoing head of state Klaus Iohannis will remain in the post of the country's leader.

The first round of the Romanian presidential election was held on November 24, 2024. According to official data, independent candidate Calin Georgescu was leading with 22.94% of the vote. Elena Lasconi, leader of the opposition Romania Salvation Union party, had 19.17% of the vote. George Simion came fourth with 14.17% of the vote. A second round was to be held on December 8, as no candidate was able to garner more than 50%.

On November 28, Romania's Constitutional Court (CC) demanded that the Central Election Commission (CEC) recalculate the results of the first round. On 6 December, the Constitutional Court annulled the results of the first round of the presidential election.

According to the provisions of the Ukrainian constitution, Zelensky's presidential term ended on May 20, 2024. The election was supposed to be held in March last year, but it was canceled due to the martial law in Ukraine imposed by the president, which has been in effect since February 24, 2022.

The presidential election in Belarus was held on January 26, 2025. According to the Central Election Commission of the republic, the turnout amounted to 85.7%.