KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected suggestions that he is using the war as an excuse to cling to power, saying he is ready to hold elections if the U.S. and other allies will help ensure the security of the poll and if the country's electoral law can be altered.
Zelenskyy’s five-year term was scheduled to end in May 2024, but elections were legally put off due to Russia’s full-scale invasion. That has become a source of tension with U.S. President Donald Trump, who has criticized the delay as he pushes Zelenskyy to accept his proposals for ending the war.
Zelenskyy responded to that criticism on Tuesday, saying he was ready for elections.
“Moreover, I am now asking — and I am stating this openly — for the United States, possibly together with our European colleagues, to help me ensure security for holding elections,” he told reporters on WhatsApp. “And then, within the next 60–90 days, Ukraine will be ready to hold them.”
Until now, Zelenskyy has declined to hold an election until a ceasefire is declared, in line with Ukrainian law that prevents a poll from being held when martial law is in effect. Ukrainians largely support that decision.
Here is a look at why Ukraine has not been able to hold elections so far:
Ukraine has been under martial law since February 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion. The country’s constitution provides for martial law in wartime, and a separate law bars the holding of elections while it remains in force.
Beyond being illegal, any nationwide vote would pose serious security risks as Russia bombs Ukrainian cities with missiles and drones. With roughly one-fifth of the country under Russian occupation and millions of Ukrainians displaced abroad, organizing a nationwide ballot is also widely seen as logistically impossible.
It would also be difficult to find a way for Ukrainian soldiers on the front line to cast their votes.
Although Zelenskyy’s term formally expired in May 2024, Ukraine's constitution allows him to legitimately remain in office until a newly elected president is sworn in.
In an interview with Politico published on Tuesday, Trump said it was time for Ukraine to hold elections.
“They’re using war not to hold an election, but, uh, I would think the Ukrainian people ... should have that choice. And maybe Zelenskyy would win. I don’t know who would win.
“But they haven’t had an election in a long time. You know, they talk about a democracy, but it gets to a point where it’s not a democracy anymore.”
Trump's comments on elections echo Moscow's stance. The Kremlin has used Zelenskyy’s remaining in power after his expired term as a tool to cast him as an illegitimate leader.
Zelenskyy reiterated previous statements that the decision about when to hold elections was one for the Ukrainian people, not its international allies.
The first question, he said, is whether an election could be held securely while Ukraine is under attack from Russia. But in the event that the U.S. and other allies can guarantee the security of the poll, Zelenskyy said he is asking lawmakers to propose legal changes that would allow elections to be held under martial law.
“I’ve heard it suggested that we’re clinging to power, or that I’m personally holding on to the president’s seat, that I’m clinging to it, and that this is supposedly why the war is not ending. This, frankly, is a completely absurd story.”
Holding elections in the middle of a war would also sow division in Ukrainian society at a time when the country should be united against Russia, Zelenskyy has said.
One potential candidate who could challenge Zelenskyy in an election is former army chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the current Ukrainian ambassador to Britain. Zaluzhnyi has denied plans to enter politics, though public opinion surveys show him as a potential Zelenskyy rival.
Petro Poroshenko also is a key political rival of Zelenskyy’s and the leader of the largest opposition party. He is unlikely to run again, analysts said, but his backing of a particular candidate would be consequential.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
FILE - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, looks back at the media in Downing Street, London, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)
LISBON, Portugal (AP) — A strike called by Portugal’s two main trade union confederations brought severe travel disruption Thursday and forced the cancellation of many medical appointments and school classes. Government and municipal services, including trash collection, were also badly hit.
The two labor groups representing close to a million Portuguese workers say it could be the country’s biggest walkout in more than 10 years as they contest the center-right government’s planned changes to employment laws.
The unions say the changes strip workers of entitlements, while the government argues they are needed to make the economy more supple and spur growth.
The proposed changes include making it easier for companies to fire workers, denying the right to strike in additional sectors of the economy and limiting breastfeeding breaks for mothers to the first two years of a baby’s life from the current open-ended dispensation.
Downtown Lisbon was strikingly quiet, with few pedestrians and light traffic compared to a usual weekday in the capital as some people went on strike and others worked from home to avoid the transport disruption.
At Lisbon international airport, dozens of flights were canceled as pilots, flight attendants and baggage handlers walked out. The airport was open but largely deserted.
Flag carrier TAP Air Portugal operated only 63 of its 283 scheduled flights, in line with the minimum level of service required by law. The airline had previously warned passengers about the strike and offered to put them on other flights.
Train and bus services across Portugal also ran a skeleton service. The Lisbon Metro subway said services were suspended at 11 p.m. Wednesday and would resume only on Friday morning.
Private companies were also affected, with manufacturing and distribution companies reporting walkouts. Some Lisbon stores were closed.
It was the first time since 2013 that the umbrella groups — the General Workers’ Union and the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers — have joined forces.
The government’s Minister for the Cabinet, António Leitão Amaro, said the strike had little impact on the private sector. “Most Portuguese are at work,” he said.
But unions, which staged street marches in the afternoon, pronounced the strike a success.
“We are seeing workers demand that the government withdraw this labor (reform) package,” Tiago Oliveira, head of the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers, said. The strike "says a lot about the government’s attack and this is the response of the workers.”
Portugal has one of the European Union’s smallest economies and its workers are among the lowest paid in the 27-nation bloc. The average monthly wage is around 1,600 euros ($1,870) before tax, according to the National Statistics Institute. The minimum monthly wage earned by hundreds of thousands of workers is 870 euros ($1,018) before tax.
The Portuguese are also being pinched by a housing and cost of living crisis, as property prices soar and inflation sticks at just over 2%.
The European Commission expects Portugal to achieve GDP growth of around 2% this year, above the EU average of 1.4%. Unemployment stands at under 6%, roughly the EU average.
Social Democrat Prime Minister Luis Montenegro has described the strike as “senseless” because the country is doing well.
Helena Alves and Armando Franca in Lisbon, Portugal, contributed to this report.
Demonstrators gather outside the parliament during a general strike to protest against a new labour package announced by the centre-right government, in Lisbon, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. The sign held by the woman reads in Portuguese: "Down with precarious living conditions." (AP Photo/Armando Franca)
Demonstrators gather outside the parliament during a general strike to protest against a new labour package announced by the centre-right government, in Lisbon, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)
Demonstrators gather outside the parliament during a general strike to protest against a new labour package announced by the centre-right government, in Lisbon, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. The sentence on the billboard was amended to read "prison for whom robs the people" (AP Photo/Armando Franca)
Demonstrators gather outside the parliament during a general strike to protest against a new labour package announced by the centre-right government, in Lisbon, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)
Demonstrators use the light from their cell phones as they gather outside the parliament during a general strike to protest against a new labour package announced by the centre-right government, in Lisbon, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)
City buses are photographed in a parking lot, during a general strike to protest against a new labour package announced by the centre-right government, in Oeiras, outside Lisbon, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)
An employee walks alongside passenger trains parked at Campolide station, during a general strike to protest against a new labour package announced by the centre-right government, in Lisbon, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)
Trucks sit idle at a garbage processing center in Lisbon at the start of a general strike on Wednesday night, Dec. 10, 2025, held to protest a new labor package announced by Portugal's center-right government. (AP Photo/Ana Brigida)
A screen shows departing flights, many cancelled, at Lisbon Airport, at the start of a general strike to protest against a new labour package announced by the centre-right government, in Lisbon, early Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ana Brigida)
A woman walks through a nearly deserted hall of the Lisbon airport at the start of a general strike to protest against a new labour package announced by the centre-right government, in Lisbon, early Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ana Brigida)
Striking workers block the entrance to warehouses of the Portuguese postal services company stopping trucks leaving, at the start of a general strike to protest against a new labour package announced by the centre-right government, in Lisbon, Wednesday night, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Ana Brigida)
A police officer negotiates with striking workers blocking the movement of trucks at the gate to warehouses of the Portuguese postal services company, at the start of a general strike to protest against a new labour package announced by the centre-right government, in Lisbon, early Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ana Brigida)
