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UKRAINE has voted for Volodymyr Zelensky to remain the country’s President “indefinitely” under martial law defying Donald Trump.
The US President branded Zelensky a “dictator” last week, for not holding an election during the war.
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The brave Ukrainian President vowed to step down “immediately” in exchange for peace or Nato membership.
But it seems that Kyiv has sided with its heroic leader as Ukraine‘s Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada passed a resolution today securing Zelensky’s presidency until the martial law is lifted.
Rada deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak said the decision is to hold elections after “a comprehensive, just, and sustainable peace is secured.”
A total of 286 deputies voted in support of the resolution, with no abstentions or votes against, he said.
Elections in Ukraine have been banned under martial law amid Putin’s ongoing illegal invasion.
The resolution also clarified it is currently impossible to hold free and fair elections because of the war.
It added that Zelensky was elected president of Ukraine in free and fair elections, and stressed that neither the Ukrainian people nor the Verkhovna Rada questioned the legitimacy of Zelensky’s current mandate.
The resolution states Ukraine‘s constitution demanded that Zelensky remain in power until a new president takes office.
As Zelensky was elected in 2014, fresh elections were due to be led last year – but were postponed because of the war.
The US President unleashed a harsh attack on the Ukrainian President last week blasting him as a “dictator” and a “moderately successful” comedian in a Truth Social post.
Trump wrote Zelensky was a “modestly successful comedian” and accused him of having “talked the US into a war that couldn’t be won”.
Trump blasted Zelensky as playing Biden “like a fiddle” – and called him a “dictator without elections”.
His attack came just hours after Zelensky attacked the US President – accusing him of living in a “Russian disinformation bubble”.
In response to Trump’s jibe, said he wasn’t offended.
He said: “I wasn’t offended, but a dictator would be. I’m not. I’m the legally election president.”
The two leaders have always had a a chaotic relationship that dates back even further to before Trump was elected, and when Zelensky was a TV comic.
The United States shockingly sided with Russia in a UN vote on a resolution demanding that Putin’s troops leave Ukraine.
The US President’s administration joined Iran, North Korea, Belarus, Hungary and 13 others to oppose the call — with China abstaining.
Yet 93 countries voted in favour of the Ukraine-tabled resolution — which branded Russia the “aggressor” — including the UK and most European nations.
AFP
English (US)