ISTANBUL

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday reaffirmed his country’s need for “appropriate” security guarantees to hold a presidential election and referendum.

In remarks to journalists published by Ukrainian media outlets, including state news agency Ukrinform, Zelenskyy commented on a Financial Times article, which reported that he intends to announce, on Feb. 24, plans for a presidential vote and a referendum on a possible peace deal with Russia.

“This is the first time I hear about it. The first time I heard it, probably, from the Financial Times. Now this is the second time I hear it from you,” Zelenskyy said, concerning the report which cited “Ukrainian and European officials involved in the planning.”

“Secondly, I have said many times about the elections, we come to the elections when there are all the appropriate security guarantees,” Zelenskyy further said.

According to the report published earlier Wednesday, the planning comes as the administration of US President Donald Trump pressed Ukraine to hold both votes by May 15 or risk losing security guarantees proposed by Washington for the country.

In further comments on the Financial Times report, Zelenskyy said the issue of elections in Ukraine has been raised by certain partners, without giving any specific country, but that his country itself has never initiated this issue.

He further said Ukraine is ready for elections and that he expressed the need for a ceasefire in order to conduct the vote, noting the matter is a “security issue.”

Zelenskyy said that the American side also raised the topic of elections, but did not provide specific details, while noting that the US does not use security guarantees as a tool with regard to the issue.

Commenting on whether Ukrainian and American delegations discussed May 15 as a date for holding elections or a referendum during recent talks, Zelenskyy expressed that Kyiv’s delegation knows his position and conveyed it to the American side.

“We are ready to work with any schedules that American colleagues will propose. But if we raise the issue of a referendum, I have already said, there must be an understanding of a ceasefire for this. A referendum in terms of structure is like an election. That is, security is needed,” he added.

Two rounds of trilateral talks involving Russia, Ukraine, and the US were held in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi on Jan. 23-24 and Feb. 4-5.