Trump backs a new Ukrainian president as rivals to Zelenskyy emerge

what happened

Al Jazeera reports that US President Donald Trump told journalists on Saturday that Ukraine should choose a new president. He tied his criticism of Volodymyr Zelenskyy to attacks on Russian oil refineries that had continued for months and, in his view, damaged global diesel supplies. Zelenskyy’s five-year mandate ended in 2024, but Ukraine’s constitution and martial law allow him to remain in office during wartime. Many Ukrainians want the political establishment renewed, while remaining hesitant about a presidential vote before the four-and-a-half-year war ends.

Zelenskyy responded by suggesting that an election could take place if Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to keep the guns silent for 60 days. Kyiv analyst Igar Tyshkevych told Al Jazeera that a former military commander would probably be the incumbent’s strongest challenger if the vote were organised quickly. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s former commander-in-chief and current ambassador to the United Kingdom, is widely viewed as the leading alternative. Volodymyr Fesenko, who heads the Kyiv-based Penta think tank, said Zaluzhnyi could defeat Zelenskyy. In an October 8 Rating Group poll, 64 percent of Ukrainians said they trusted Zaluzhnyi, while 25 percent expressed distrust. His standing is linked to battlefield successes in 2022: after helping defend Kyiv during the opening weeks of Russia’s full-scale invasion, he led counteroffensives that recovered 40 percent of the land held by Russia. He was dismissed in 2023 after an anticipated summer offensive produced no results.

The 53-year-old Zaluzhnyi maintains a low public profile, seldom appearing on talk shows or speaking to reporters. He has offered few clear positions on economic reconstruction, Ukraine’s severe demographic problem, EU membership or security guarantees, although he sometimes publishes detailed assessments of the war and broader appeals for lasting peace. Zelenskyy, 48, won 73 percent of the vote in 2019, the strongest result in Ukraine’s post-Soviet era. Despite corruption scandals involving members of his inner circle, he retains the trust of 53 percent of respondents, while 40 percent distrust him. Following his February 2025 confrontation with Trump in the Oval Office, Zelenskyy’s approval reached a wartime peak of 67 percent. His appointments may nevertheless damage his prospects: Tyshkevych said the president moved away from his original promise to select the most capable ministers and advisers rather than the most trusted ones. Former President Viktor Poroshenko, defeated by Zelenskyy in 2019, and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is under investigation for corruption, are not seen by the analyst as serious contenders.

Other names include Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov, 40, a former military intelligence chief appointed to lead Zelenskyy’s administration in January. He previously directed a 2016 operation in Russian-annexed Crimea and became head of the defence ministry’s intelligence directorate, the GUR, in 2020. GUR sea-drone operations damaged Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and pushed it from annexed Crimea to Novorossiysk. The Rating Group gives Budanov 53 percent trust and 31 percent distrust. Mykhailo Fedorov, 35, became known as digital-transformation minister after launching Diia, a smartphone service providing access to more than 100 government services. In January, despite having no military background, he became defence minister responsible for logistics, budgets, reforms, anticorruption work and arrangements for multibillion-dollar Western aid or loans. Under him, drone production increased for attacks on Russian supply routes, weapons and fuel depots, oil refineries and air-defence systems, while ground robots were used more widely. His dispute with actual commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky reportedly led to a dismissal push in July. Fedorov’s approval rose from 35 percent in June to 65 percent in July, then fell to 38 percent after he backed an election in August. Yevhenii Khmara, who replaced him as defence minister in July, is trusted by 29 percent and distrusted by 16 percent; 43 percent did not know him. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and Poroshenko each have 24 percent trust, while Poroshenko is distrusted by 70 percent after a career that included an ant corruption platform in 2014 and a scandal over overpriced military spare parts.

why it matters

A possible election would add political risk to an already sensitive Ukraine outlook and could affect expectations for Western support, European assets, the hryvnia and energy markets. The reports do not establish an election date.

instruments