EU chief diplomat responds to Trump's call: Ukraine needs ceasefire to hold elections

Elections cannot be held in Ukraine while the war is still ongoing, so international pressure should be directed primarily at Russia to force it to end the war.

Source: Kaja Kallas, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, ahead of a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg on 12 October

Details: Kallas stressed that elections in Ukraine could be held once hostilities had ended, while the international community's efforts should currently focus on forcing Russia to stop the war.

"Well, every, almost every constitution has provision that when you have a war going on, then you can't have elections, and I understand that President Zelenskyy has also said that if there would be a ceasefire, then he's willing to have the elections as soon as possible," Kallas said, commenting on US President Donald Trump's call for new elections in Ukraine.

The EU's top diplomat also pointed out that elections inevitably involve political strife within a country, while Ukraine continues to face external aggression.

"Elections are always fighting between different groups inside the country while the attacks are coming from outside, and that's why it is really important to keep the people together while the war is going on," she said.

Kallas emphasised that international efforts should be focused on forcing Russia to end the war.

"If the pressure is put on Russia so that they will stop this war, I'm sure that Ukraine will have elections," she noted.

Background:

• US President Donald Trump said on 10 October that he believed it was time for Ukraine to have a new president.
• In response, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukrainians should decide who their president is and that he was prepared to organise elections if Russia agreed to a full 60-day ceasefire.
• On 12 October, Kallas said she saw no evidence that Russia was observing the energy ceasefire and called for continued pressure on Russia.

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