Republican lawmakers are backing President Donald Trump’s insistence that Ukraine hold elections, even if they don’t share his belief that Volodymyr Zelenskyy is a "dictator." (Ukrainian Presidency/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., backed up the president’s push for elections. "We held elections during World War Two. Britain held elections during World War Two. If they're a democracy, they should hold elections. I don't think that's difficult," he told reporters Thursday.
"[Zelenskyy] is the elected leader of the country," said Hawley. "But, you know, at a certain point you've got to hold elections."
Vice President JD Vance was on Capitol Hill for a lunch with Republican senators, but the president's bold assertion about the Ukrainian leader was not a topic of discussion, according to Hawley.
Zelenskyy was originally up for reelection in April 2024, but Ukraine’s constitution bars holding elections until the president lifts the martial law order he instituted after the 2022 invasion.
"Well, we've got to have elections," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said when asked about the comments.
Senator Lindsey Graham backed up Trump's call for Ukrainian elections. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Trump’s remarks came just after Secretary of State Marco Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff traveled to Saudi Arabia to meet with their Russian counterparts.
The team came back with an agreement to increase diplomatic presence in each other's nation and an agreed-upon need for elections in Ukraine.
Russia has insisted it will not sign a peace agreement until Ukraine agrees to hold elections, and the U.S. is now "floating" the idea of a three-stage plan: ceasefire, then Ukrainian elections, then inking of a peace deal.
General Valerii Zaluzhny, likely Zelenskyy's most formidable opponent in a reelection campaign, said he would not entertain the idea of running against Ukraine's president until the war is over.
"When such conditions come, I will be ready to give an answer to such a question. For now, our task is to endure and save our nation. And only after that will we think about other things."
Zelenskyy, according to Trump, "refuses to have Elections, is very low in Ukrainian Polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing Biden ‘like a fiddle.’"
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"A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left. In the meantime, we are successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all admit only ‘TRUMP,’ and the Trump Administration, can do," Trump said. "Biden never tried, Europe has failed to bring Peace, and Zelenskyy probably wants to keep the ‘gravy train’ going. I love Ukraine, but Zelenskyy has done a terrible job, his Country is shattered, and MILLIONS have unnecessarily died."
Dmitry Medvedev, a top Kremlin security official, remarked: "If you'd told me just three months ago that these were the words of the US president, I would have laughed out loud. [Trump] is 200 percent right [about Zelenskyy]. Bankrupt clown."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gop-senators-back-trumps-demand-ukraine-elections-wont-call-zelenskyy-dictator