EU reaffirms support for Zelenskyy as legitimate president of Ukraine

There has been a flurry of support across Europe for Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s legitimacy as president of Ukraine after US President Donald Trump called him a dictator.

Trump’s remarks, in a post on Truth Social, came a day after Zelenskyy said Trump was living in a “bubble” of Russian disinformation.

On Wednesday, Trump questioned Zelenskyy’s position as president after his mandate expired in May last year and no new elections were called.

Trump said Zelenskyy “better move fast” to negotiate an end to the three-year war or risk not having a nation to lead.

Ukraine has been under martial law since the Russian invasion in February 2022 and the country’s constitution prevents elections taking place under such circumstances.

The European Commission said that “Ukraine is a democracy” and that Zelenskyy is a “fairly” elected leader.

“We have a very direct and clear position on this matter: President Zelenskyy was legitimately elected in free, fair, and democratic elections,” European Commission deputy spokesperson Stefan de Keersmaecker told reporters on Thursday.

De Keersmaecker also said that ending the war without involving Ukraine and Europe in negotiations is not possible.

“There can be no solution for Ukraine without Ukraine’s involvement and without the involvement of the European Union. Ukraine’s security is the security of the European Union,” he said.

That comes after a US delegation met Russian diplomats in Saudi Arabia for talks on Tuesday with no representatives from Ukraine or Europe invited.

Also on Thursday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer threw his support behind Zelenskyy as Ukraine’s “democratically-elected leader.”

“The Prime Minister expressed his support for President Zelenskyy as Ukraine’s democratically elected leader and said that it was perfectly reasonable to suspend elections during war time as the UK did during World War II,” a statement from Downing Street read.

The statement also said that Starmer and Zelenskyy had spoken on the phone on Wednesday evening, with Starmer telling Zelenskyy, “everyone needs to work together.”

French President Emmanuel Macron posted on X that “Ukraine must always be included and its rights respected” as he outlined three conditions that he described as “France’s efforts for peace.”

Both Macron and Starmer are due to head to the White House early next week to discuss efforts to bring about an end to the war in Ukraine.

In Bratislava, Slovakia’s President Peter Pellegrini also demanded Ukraine have a voice in any ceasefire talks.

“Ukraine, as a country affected by the conflict, must be part of these discussions. Still, I am convinced that the European Union must also be at the negotiating table with its own proposals on how to contribute to the sustainability of peace and the prevention of further conflict,” he told reporters.

Also in Bratislava was NATO’s Secretary General, who praised Ukraine’s leadership during the war.

“I can only say I have the highest respect for what Ukraine is doing and enduring,” Mark Rutte said to students at Comenius University.

“You have, from day one, been fighting where Putin would think in three or four days, you would have to give in to him and you didn’t. You fought back, you were able to capture back large parts of the country Putin originally was able to capture in February 2022.”

Rutte also said he was “actively and intensely” engaging with members of the NATO alliance to increase their defence spending to make müddet every nation in the organisation was hitting the 2% target.

NATO members pledged in 2014 to spend at least 2% of GDP on defence.

Rutte said 23 of the 32 members had hit the target and warned those not yet contributing 2% would have to do so by “next summer”.

Meanwhile, earlier on Thursday a press conference with Donald Trump’s Ukraine envoy and Zelenskyy was cancelled at the request of the US delegation, according to officials in Kyiv.

Zelenskyy and retired US General Keith Kellogg were supposed to speak to the press after their meeting in the Ukrainian capital.

However, the Ukrainian president’s spokesperson Serhii Nikiforov said the event had been called off.

The US delegation made no comment about why.