Trump called Zelensky 'a dictator without elections', is he correct or misinformed?

AP News reports that the rift between Ukraine and the United States continues to grow, as US President Donald Trump accuses Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky of being “a dictator without elections”.

“You’ve been there for three years. You should have ended it. You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.” Trump reiterated, per AP News.

The BBC highlights that world leaders such as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer have defended Zelensky against Trump's accusations.

According to the BBC, Trump's comments come after the Ukrainian leader accused the US President of being “living in a disinformation space” controlled by the Kremlin.

But has Volodymyr Zelensky become the man that he has promised to fight until the end? Let's see the evidence.

The Kyiv Independent writes that, as of January 2025, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected the possibility of elections in his country.

According to German state news agency DW, Ukraine was meant to have presidential elections back in March or April 2024, concluding Zelensky’s five-year term on May 20.

Pictured: Zelensky voting back in July 2019

However, under martial law, the Ukrainian legislature opted to postpone presidential and parliamentary elections, letting Zelensky run the country unopposed until the end of the ongoing invasion from Russia.

When asked about the possibility of elections in early 2024, the Ukrainian President dismissed such talk as “part of the Russian Federation’s Program”, DW writes.

Zelensky also called any questions about his legitimacy as President of Ukraine as “hostile narrative”.

According to The Kyiv Independent, Russian President Vladimir Putin has denounced Zelensky’s rule under martial law as “illegitimate”.

According to Putin, and as cited by The Kyiv Independent, the presidential powers should pass to Ruslan Stefanchuk, the head of the Ukrainian Parliament. The Zelensky government has called this a distortion of the country's constitution.

DW explains that the President of Ukraine does not lose their powers automatically after the end of the five-year term. Instead, these powers are only transferred once a new Head of State is officially inaugurated.

The BBC affirms that having elections amid the ongoing war would be a logistic nightmare: Russia still occupies a fifth of the country, millions of Ukrainians have fled the conflict, plus thousands of soldiers are fighting in the front.

According to the BBC, Zelensky still enjoys a high approval rate among the Ukrainian population, although it has been slipping in the past year. There’s still the chance of a second term for the current Ukrainian leader.

The Kyiv Independent highlights that, in an interview released on January 2, the Ukrainian President has promised to call for elections immediately after the war cools down, Kyiv keeps a strong military and have secured security guarantees.

Exactly how long it will take for Ukraine to fulfill all of these goals, or actually manages outright peace, is nearly impossible to say.

However, many believe that 2025 could be the beginning of the end to the war that started in February 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine.

The Kyiv Independent writes that the return of Donald Trump to the White House, and his promise to bring Putin and Zelensky into negotiations, could define the future of Ukraine.

During his first month in the White House, the US President has said that he will directly talk with Putin to reach a peace agreement, regardless if the Ukrainian government is involved.

How Ukraine manages to achieve peace, either by defeating the Russian troops or having it imposed by the Kremlin, will define the future of Volodymyr Zelensky and his country.

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