Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 20, 2025
1 min readLast updated: February 27, 2026
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French President Macron supports Zelenskiy's legitimacy, highlighting his election process. Elections in Ukraine are on hold due to martial law since Russia's invasion.
PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was a "legitimate" leader and that, unlike Russian President Vladimir Putin, he had taken office through a free election process.
Macron was commenting on U.S. President Donald Trump denunciation of Zelenskiy as a "dictator without elections".
Zelenskiy's five-year term was supposed to end in 2024, but elections cannot be held under martial law that Kyiv imposed in February 2022 in response to Russia's full-scale invasion.
Macron was speaking in a question-and-answer session on social media as part of government efforts to make the French people more aware of the impact of the Ukraine war, France's diplomatic role, and the major change in U.S. posture towards the conflict since Trump took office a month ago.
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon and John Irish; editing by Mark Heinrich)
Macron stated that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is a 'legitimate' leader, contrasting him with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Elections in Ukraine cannot be held under the martial law imposed in February 2022 due to Russia's full-scale invasion.
Macron's comments came during a social media Q&A session aimed at informing the French public about the Ukraine war and France's diplomatic role.
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