Trump calls on Ukraine to hold elections

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Ukraine should hold elections. He cited what he described as President Zelensky’s low approval rating.

“We have a situation where we haven’t had elections in Ukraine, where we have martial law, essentially martial law in Ukraine,” The New York Post quoted Trump as saying at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago after his US delegation finished talks with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia.

Trump claimed that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was first elected in 2019, has a “4% approval rating.”

But according to The New York Post polls show the Ukrainian president hovering just above 50%.

Presidential elections were scheduled for April of 2024 but were delayed.

Zelensky, in 2023, said an election would give way to “political divides” at a time when the country should be focused on defense in the war with Russia.