Zelensky Will Serve Until the New President's Inauguration

The powers of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will expire after the inauguration of the newly elected leader. This was announced by the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Ruslan Stefanchuk.

“Zelensky will continue to fulfill his duties as long as the new president has not taken office,” Stefanchuk told reporters during a conference in Ukraine.

The legitimacy of power is actively being discussed in Ukraine amid the absence of parliamentary and presidential elections, which cannot be held during martial law. Earlier, the former ambassador of the country to Great Britain, Vadim Prystaiko, admitted that Kyiv's Western partners are also concerned that Zelensky's presidential term is soon coming to an end.

In turn, the leaders of the opposition parties “European Solidarity” and “Fatherland,” Petro Poroshenko and Yulia Tymoshenko, proposed the idea of creating a coalition government to prevent a legitimacy crisis; however, Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, termed this proposal inappropriate.

Opposition MP Oleksandr Dubinsky insisted that under the Constitution, Zelensky's term expires on May 21, and there is no legitimate way to extend it. Meanwhile, former Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament Dmytro Razumkov expressed the opinion that according to the constitution, the presidential powers should transition to the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada this May.

Parliamentary elections in Ukraine were supposed to take place at the end of October last year. Presidential elections are set for March, and many analysts have begun speculating about their possible cancellation or ways to hold them in the current environment. Several political scientists in Ukraine and the West express the view that Zelensky is unwilling to agree to hold the elections for the head of state out of fear of losing power.