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Zelensky allows elections during winter truce if US wants to replace him
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with the German program “ZDF Magazin Royale” that he had proposed the Americans negotiate a winter ceasefire with Russia, during which Ukraine could hold elections. He called voting without the participation of military personnel unfair and said online elections could be considered if parliament found a solution.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had proposed that the United States negotiate a winter ceasefire with Russia, during which Ukraine could hold elections. He made the remarks in an interview with Jan Böhmermann, host of the German satirical program “ZDF Magazin Royale.” The conversation was recorded in Berlin and, according to the publication DWDL, was Zelensky’s first interview after the U.S. midterm elections. The full recording appeared on the ZDF streaming platform and YouTube on the evening of November 4, while the program will air on the television channel on Friday, November 6.
“I told the Americans: You can negotiate a winter ceasefire with the Russians. During that time, we could also hold elections — if all of you in the United States want to replace me. Perhaps that will change after today, but at that time it would definitely have been possible. So there is a chance. There was a chance,” Zelensky says in the excerpt. According to the Austrian publication eXXpress, he explained that a winter truce would allow people to retain access to electricity and water.
Zelensky had already linked elections to a ceasefire. In an interview with ABC on October 11, he said Ukraine would hold a presidential election if Russia agreed to a full 60-day ceasefire. In his conversation with Böhmermann, he also said he was ready for elections after the war ended and an orderly transitional period: “I do not want to look like someone who is clinging to his office.”
“One hundred percent unfair”
Böhmermann reminded his interlocutor that elections are not held in Ukraine under martial law. Zelensky replied that military personnel were the primary opponents of holding a vote.
“The military oppose holding elections because they have no opportunity to vote. Millions of people are in the trenches, and technically we cannot organize voting for them. Holding elections when soldiers cannot vote is unfair. It is one hundred percent unfair,” Zelensky says. He also mentioned security problems, as well as millions of Ukrainians who are abroad and in territories not controlled by Kyiv. “Elections always divide society,” he added.
At the same time, the Ukrainian president did not rule out voting online. “We can consider online elections. It is possible, but parliament would have to find solutions,” he said.
Martial law has been in effect in Ukraine since February 24, 2022, and Ukrainian law prohibits holding elections during this period. On October 26, the Verkhovna Rada extended martial law and general mobilization once again for 90 days, from October 31 to January 29, 2027. Zelensky’s five-year term, following his election in 2019, expired in May 2024. Kyiv refers to the constitution, under which the president continues to exercise his powers until the newly elected head of state takes office.
The Kremlin’s position
Moscow has repeatedly questioned the legitimacy of the Ukrainian president. “It is worth recalling President Putin’s words that Zelensky’s legitimacy is seriously questionable from a legal perspective,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on July 2, 2026. Putin, in turn, has repeatedly said that the final documents on a settlement should be signed by authorities considered legitimate under the Ukrainian constitution.
The Kremlin rejected Zelensky’s proposal for a 60-day truce to enable elections. “They need 60 days of a ceasefire not for elections, but to regroup and regain their strength,” Peskov said on October 12. At the same time, he said that if Kyiv genuinely decided to hold a vote, Putin would be ready to instruct Russian forces not to strike Ukraine on election day. He stressed that Moscow was seeking not a truce but “a lasting peace for many generations to come.” The Kremlin had not responded to Zelensky’s new remarks in the ZDF interview as of publication.
Taurus and launchers
In the same interview, Zelensky returned to the issue of Germany’s Taurus cruise missiles, calling Berlin’s approach to the matter incorrect.
“We have to destroy launchers. That is why we wanted to order Taurus missiles and test them. It would have been good for both sides,” Zelensky says. According to eXXpress, he was referring to ballistic-missile launchers, not civilian infrastructure or energy facilities. “We do not do that,” he said. In March, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told the Bundestag that Ukrainian long-range weapons were “far more effective” than the relatively small number of Taurus missiles Germany could have supplied.
Böhmermann also asked his interlocutor about his family. “My children are not my priority right now, but in the future my family will become my priority. I work for Ukraine, for the entire Ukrainian people,” Zelensky replied. Earlier in the same interview, he spoke about Elon Musk and Vladimir Putin, suggesting that the Russian president might be the richest person in the world.
Video: ZDF Magazin Royale / social media. Photo: Dati Bendo / European Union, 2026 (CC BY 4.0)
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