President Zelenskyy has reshuffled his cards in the peace process driven by Donald Trump for the past year. From the deck of cards, he has played a good card to bet in the next round of the game, a double-edged move that, like in any confrontation, has its risks but also its gains.
This morning, the economic newspaper Financial Times gave shape to a rumor circulating in the power circles of Kiev. The rumor was that Volodymyr Zelenskyy was going to take advantage of his press conference before the international media on February 24 (fourth anniversary of the invasion) to announce two things that actually go hand in hand: a referendum to accept the terms of peace, still undefined with Russia, and presidential elections that according to all polls he would win again.
In response to the publication of this information, citing high-ranking officials from the Ukrainian Administration, the presidential office denied it, clarifying that it was "impossible" to hold elections or a referendum without "a ceasefire that allows it."
Presidential elections are, above all, an obsession of Trump and his team, which has been verbalized on numerous occasions. In reality, the two pieces of information first issued with anonymous sources and then officially are true and not contradictory. In other words, it is true that Zelenskyy is considering calling elections "before May 15" along with a referendum to accept the peace conditions, but they would only take place if Russia commits to respecting a ceasefire, something that the regime of Vladimir Putin has always refused to do.
What does Zelenskyy intend with this move? In the context of these negotiations where Russia maintains all its fury against Ukrainian cities and is doing everything possible to show that peace for its regime is just an empty word, the Ukrainian president offers a card to the U.S. with the presidential elections, but demands pressure on Russia to achieve a ceasefire. The deadline of May 15 also aligns with Trump's idea of resolving this conflict before summer to score a diplomatic point before the midterm elections in the US, which will take place next November.
So far, Zelenskyy has given the green light to another round of talks with the US while the Kremlin appears somewhat annoyed with Washington. In recent days, Sergei Lavrov, the eternal Russian Foreign Minister, has reappeared to deliver two messages. The first is that Russia "does not accept" the conclusions of the talks between the US and Ukraine, and that Trump is avoiding the supposed "agreements" he made with Putin in Alaska, without anyone really knowing what kind of agreements, secret or non-existent, Lavrov is referring to.
The reality is that peace remains distant. Both contenders strive to connect with Trump to disconnect the opponent. But there is a clear difference: while Ukraine wants to stop the war, even making some concessions, Putin sends daily signals to the contrary. In fact, although Trump's motto remains "peace through strength," the truth is that Russian missiles are killing many more civilians today than when Biden was in office.