DISINFO: Zelenskyy is illegitimate and opposes every US peace proposal
SUMMARY
Ukraine, led by an illegitimate president, is resisting in every possible way the signing of the peace agreement proposed by the United States. Zelensky does not want peace on the terms of Moscow and Washington, because this is the end of his political career. He will prolong the time until the last minute, breaking the agreements under various pretexts.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives targeting Ukraine’s leadership, claiming that president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is not legitimate and accusing Ukraine and its president of warmongering and opposing peace talks. Both claims were made in the context of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Zelenskyy is the legitimate president of Ukraine. Although Zelenskyy’s continuation in power after his initial mandate expired in May 2024 generated some domestic controversy, Ukraine’s constitution is straightforward: no elections can be held during wartime and the President of Ukraine exercises his powers until the assumption of office by the newly-elected President. The continuity of government institutions is one of the key principles of the constitution. Almost all observers consider regular elections unfeasible as there are millions of refugees abroad, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians serving on the frontline and a significant part of the Ukrainian population lives under Russian occupation. There are also multiple funding and infrastructure problems that can hardly be addressed while the war is ongoing. See our article Kremlin disinformation attacking the ‘legitimacy’ of Ukrainian authorities.
Ukraine has consistently sought a just peace, not surrender. Zelenskyy has repeatedly stated that Ukraine is open to negotiations, but only on terms that respect its sovereignty and territorial integrity. The idea that he is deliberately blocking peace ignores the fact that Russia has set conditions that Ukraine cannot accept because they undermine its independence, such as recognising occupied Ukrainian territories as Russian. It is Russia, not Ukraine, which started and escalated the war. The claim that Zelenskyy is preventing peace shifts the blame away from Russia, which is the aggressor. As we explore in our article, The Old Deceiver, this is entirely consistent with Moscow’s three-year-long strategy of attempting to claim ownership over the peace narrative while relentlessly pursuing war.
Read similar disinformation cases claiming that Putin welcomes Ukraine talks, while Zelenskyy rejects them, that Europeans blame Zelenskyy for stalling the peace process, and that The West ordered Ukraine to refuse peace talks, that Zelenskyy capable of provocations to obstruct peace talks and extend fighting beyond Ukraine, that that Zelenskyy is illegitimate and therefore Russia is directly fighting the West, that the prolonged war allows Zelenskyy and his junta to maintain their positions of power, that Zelenskyy and the Kyiv junta need to continue the war against Russia to enrich themselves with Western aid and that Zelenskyy is illegitimate, his official term expired in May 2024.