Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski has responded to a statement by US President Donald Trump. In an interview with Newsmax the day before, Trump had once again called for elections to be held in Ukraine and for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to be replaced, accusing him of destroying the country.
“We appreciate President Trump’s concern for the fate of the war’s victims, but in Poland we believe that these Ukrainians have suffered at the hands of drones, bombs and missiles launched by Vladimir Putin,” Sikorski wrote on social media platform X.
In the interview, Trump reiterated that Ukraine needs elections, citing Russian shelling in this context.
“I think elections are needed, because no one can convince me that Ukrainians are happy about missiles hitting their homes. But the truth is that Russia is a huge country. It could lose a million men and still have millions left. Ukraine simply does not have that kind of mobilisation resource. At the same time, although the country is much smaller, it has the world’s best weaponry, supplied by the US,” he said in an interview with Newsmax.
The US President also blamed his Ukrainian counterpart for the maiming and deaths of Ukrainian soldiers. “I recently watched an interview with a young woman from Ukraine. She said: ‘President Zelenskyy has destroyed our country. President Zelenskyy has taken our men away from us. Our men have neither legs nor arms. Many of them are in psychiatric hospitals or have already died’,” Trump stated.
Trump also claimed that Zelenskyy does not actually want to negotiate, and suggested that a settlement to the war would be reached “not with him”.
“I think they’ll eventually reach some sort of settlement. But not with him. He doesn’t want to negotiate. He says he does, but in reality that’s not the case,” said the US President.
On 10 October, Donald Trump stated that he would like to see a new person in the post of President of Ukraine. In his view, Volodymyr Zelenskyy is not trying hard enough to end the war with Russia.
This statement came after a conversation between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Following the conversation, the US leader announced an agreement between the US and Russia to supply millions of tonnes of Russian diesel fuel to the US and global markets.
Commenting on the US President’s remarks, Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated: “With all due respect to President Trump, it is up to our society, our people, to decide this.” He emphasised that holding elections at present is difficult not only because of the restrictions imposed by Ukrainian legislation, but also because it is necessary to “ensure security and give people the opportunity to vote”.
According to Zelenskyy, Ukraine is prepared to hold elections if Russia agrees to a 60-day full ceasefire.
The Kremlin rejected the idea of a 60-day ceasefire to allow elections to be held in Ukraine, but stated its willingness to refrain from carrying out strikes on polling day.
The US, including President Donald Trump, has already raised the issue of the need to hold elections in Ukraine on several occasions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian officials claim that Zelenskyy is allegedly illegitimate, as no presidential elections were held in Ukraine in 2024.
Meanwhile, the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW) previously reported that the Kremlin continues to discuss possible elections in Ukraine in order to promote the false claim that the current Ukrainian government is illegitimate and to gain control over the country’s politics. Analysts have noted that the Kremlin is making it clear that it will reject any election results unless they lead to the formation of a pro-Russian government in Ukraine.
Kyiv emphasises that security remains a key condition for holding elections: Ukraine is subjected to Russian shelling almost daily.
April 2026 marked the seventh year of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s presidency, having served the maximum five-year term. Under the state of emergency imposed in Ukraine on 24 February 2022, it is prohibited to hold elections.