This week marks a very important moment for the country of Ukraine… in the midst of their ongoing war with Russia… this week, Ukraine, is supposed to have a new President.

Quite literally, Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s 5 year term as President has expired.

BUT because Ukraine is at war and has instituted martial law… no election was held.

Zelenskyy remains in power… and most importantly, there is no plan for holding elections again at any point in the near future.

I’m investigative journalist Ben Swann and over the past few weeks we have been exposing the issues surrounding Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy… and more importantly, whether Ukraine is truly the bastion of freedom we are being told. If it is… why have elections in that country been halted at a moment when polls show that if they were held today…

Zelenskyy would not be re-elected.

I’m Ben Swann and this is a special edition of Zelenskyy Unmasked.

Zelenskyy (in Ukrainian w English subtitles):

I believe that now is not the right time for elections.

That was Volodymyr Zelenskyy in November of last year. The 2024 elections were supposed to take place two months ago in March, but the date came and went, as Zelensky’s approval rating declined and declined.

In fact, the share of Ukrainians saying they “absolutely approve” of Zelenskyy fell from 74% in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion, to just 22% at around the time when elections were supposed to be held.

to be fair…. absolute approval is a tough one and Zelenskyy’s overall approval rating is still high, around 63% but again has fallen off considerably from his overall rating of around 90% at the start of the war.

There is a more interesting poll though that showed Zelenskyy would have likely lost the March Presidential election in Ukraine had it been held two months ago. lose if a presidential election were held.

Who would have won? Well, that would be General Valerii Zalzhnyi – the former Commander in Chief of the Ukraine armed forces… man Zelenskyy fired earlier this year.

Zelenskyy fired him because Zalzhnyi gave an interview to the Economist in which he said that the war between Ukraine and Russia had reached a stalemate and Ukraine can’t advance.

So why were there no election? In fairness, Ukraine does have a law that states that during a time of martial law, no Parliamentary or local elections can be held. The law does not cover presidential elections, but some in Ukraine and across the west claim that the Presidential office should be included. On the other hand, others including current and former government officials claim that the Constitution of the country overrides the law regarding martial law.

But at least the U.S. Secretary of State has made it clear… there won’t be any election an there won’t be any change of leadership… not just during the war but even if a ceasefire is reached.

Blinky: we’re working with the government and civil society groups to shore up Ukraine’s election infrastructure. That way, as soon as Ukrainians agree that conditions allow, all Ukrainians – all Ukrainians, including those displaced by Russia’s aggression – can exercise their right to vote.

However, what many analysts seem to agree on is that even if elections can’t be held now… there needs to be some clarity about when and how they will be held in the future. And there needs to be less consolidation of power by the Zelenskyy regime…. here’s what I mean,

There are some who are looking at precedent for this. For instance during World War II Winston Churchill stayed in office beyond his term but historically it is important to note that in 1940, the UK create a wartime coalition government in their parliament if you’re going to extend power, you must share power.

Israel just did the same thing after the Hamas attack in October, creating a national unity government in wartime.

What makes Ukraine unique, not only is Zelenskyy’s expired Presidential term now indefinite but there is no coalition government in Ukraine, as Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party also completely controls the Parliament. Its not a coalition government its complete consolidation of power.

And there seems to be a good reason for it. In our next episode, we are going to explain where the more than 100 billion dollars sent to Ukraine appears to be going and who is getting very, very rich.

Next time on Zelenskyy Unmasked.