On Tuesday, the 25th of February, the Ukrainian parliament passed a resolution in which its approves the legitimacy of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The Ukrainian parliament failed to pass the resolution on its first try earlier on Monday. On their second attempt, however, the resolution was passed with a confident majority in favour. 268 members of the parliament voted in favour of the resolution.
On Monday – the third anniversary of the Russian invasion – only 218 members of the Ukrainian parliament voted for the resolution. It should be mentioned that foreign guests were present at this meeting. 54 Ukrainian parliamentarians decided to abstain in the vote, including 38 representatives of Zelenskyy’s own Servant of the People party. They did not explain why they did this.
Today’s resolution, like the previous one, states that the parliament once again recalls that Zelenskyy was elected in free, transparent and democratic elections and that his mandate is not questioned by the Ukrainian people or the parliament.
The resolution also states that Zelenskyy will remain in office until this position can be taken over by a newly elected president in accordance with the Ukrainian constitution.
Zelenskyy was elected as Ukraine’s President in 2019 for a five-year term, but still remained in office, as the Ukrainian constitution prohibits elections to be held during a state of war.
US President Donald Trump has started direct negotiations with Moscow on ending the Ukrainian war, but has not engaged either Kyiv or European countries. In addition, Trump has also publicly blamed Ukraine for causing the war, among other things, and calling Zelenskyy a “dictator without elections.”