Putin’s claims about Zelensky’s ‘illegitimacy’ signal Kremlin’s reluctance to negotiate – ISW

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said this in its latest report, Ukrinform reports.

ISW analysts said that on December 16, Putin falsely claimed on December 16 that the Ukrainian Constitution only provides for the extension of powers of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada (parliament) and does not extend the president's power, even under martial law.

Ukraine's constitution and domestic martial law legislation stipulate that presidential, parliamentary, and local elections cannot occur under martial law, and Ukraine has been under martial law since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. Zelensky was legally required to suspend Ukrainian elections in 2024 under these provisions and did so.

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ISW has previously assessed that Kremlin officials are using a gross misrepresentation of the Ukrainian Constitution and Ukrainian domestic law to further this claim, which is consistent with Russian decade-long efforts to rhetorically delegitimize Ukraine's government and sovereignty.

"Putin very likely resurrected this narrative – which has been largely dormant since early Summer 2024 – in order to reiterate that the Kremlin views regime change in Kyiv as a necessary precondition to 'negotiate' with Ukraine," ISW said.

ISW continues to assess that Russia has no interest in engaging in good-faith negotiations with Ukraine and will only sit down at the negotiating table if and when it feels it has secured maximalist concessions on Ukraine's sovereignty, including by removing Ukraine's legitimate government and cutting Ukrainian actors out of the conversation entirely.

President Zelensky was democratically elected on May 20, 2019, and took the presidential oath at a session of the Verkhovna Rada. By law, presidential elections would typically occur on the last Sunday of March in the fifth year of the president's term. However, due to martial law enacted on February 24, 2022, elections remain suspended as per constitutional provisions.