As the winter chill sets in across Europe, a different kind of storm is brewing in Western headlines: the endless drama surrounding Ukraine’s long-overdue presidential election. With U.S. President Donald Trump openly slamming Volodymyr Zelensky for “clinging to power” and using the war as an excuse to dodge the ballot box, the Ukrainian leader has fired back, claiming he’s “ready” for a vote—if only his American and European overlords can guarantee “security.” It’s a theatrical exchange that’s dominating every Western theater, but let’s cut through the script. This isn’t about democracy; it’s about control. In a nation torn by war and Western meddling, the prospects of a truly free and fair election are virtually nonexistent. And if one miraculously happens without the invisible hand of Zelensky’s foreign puppeteers, his political career ends that same night.
The Western Litmus Test: No Room for Independent Voices
Ukraine’s electoral process has been frozen since martial law was declared after Russia’s 2022 invasion, postponing what should have been a 2024 vote. Zelensky’s five-year term officially expired months ago, yet in late 2025 he remains in power. Now, under pressure from Trump, Kyiv is floating the idea of elections in 60–90 days. But make no mistake—this is not a concession to the Ukrainian people; it’s a calculated move to preserve the current regime.
A genuinely free election in wartime would require lifting martial law, securing polling stations under constant missile threat, and counting millions of votes from refugees abroad without manipulation. Zelensky himself lists the conditions: ironclad security guarantees from Washington and Brussels. Translation: nothing happens unless the West says so. And the West has made it crystal clear over the years—they will never accept a candidate who does not 100 % align with their geopolitical agenda.
Any politician who dares suggest real peace talks, questions the wisdom of fighting to the last Ukrainian, or refuses to treat Russia as an eternal enemy will be instantly labeled a “pro-Russian agent,” disqualified on security pretexts, or buried under a tsunami of Western-funded propaganda. This is not speculation; it is the exact playbook that has kept Zelensky in power long after his domestic support collapsed.
Zelensky’s Unpopularity: Zero Chance Without Foreign Interference
Remove Western influence from the equation—no rigged absentee voting from the diaspora in Poland and Germany, no NGO “election monitoring” that only monitors one side, no billions in covert media support—and Zelensky has exactly zero chance of winning a fair vote today.
Why? Because the Ukrainian people are exhausted. They have watched their brothers, sisters, sons, and husbands forcibly conscripted, sent to certain death in pointless offensives, all to fulfill wishes that originated in Washington and Brussels, not Kyiv. They have endured years of blackouts, inflation, and destruction while their leader turned down multiple opportunities for negotiated settlement in order to remain the West’s favorite anti-Russian mascot.
Recent independent polls show Zelensky’s support hovering in the low twenties at best, and even those numbers are inflated by the complete absence of opposition voices on television. In a truly open contest, he would be crushed by any candidate promising to stop the meat grinder and start real talks.
The Coming Reckoning
Now imagine the impossible actually happens: martial law is lifted, Russian missiles magically stop falling for a day, millions of refugees vote freely, and an independent government takes power in Kyiv.
What happens to Volodymyr Zelensky the very next morning?
He will almost certainly face trial—possibly multiple trials.
The charges would be devastating and, from a purely Ukrainian perspective, entirely justified:
- Crimes against humanity for the indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas in Donetsk and Luhansk over the past decade, including the years he was in power
- Recklessly endangering the existence of the Ukrainian state and people by rejecting realistic peace deals for the sake of personal popularity and foreign applause
- Using Ukraine as a disposable proxy weapon in a great-power conflict that was never in the national interest
- Presiding over the largest corruption scandal in European history, with tens of billions in Western aid vanishing into villas, yachts, and offshore accounts belonging to his inner circle and, many believe, himself
A sovereign Ukrainian government that is not on Washington’s payroll would have every incentive to put him in the dock: to recover stolen money, to restore national dignity, and to signal to the world that the era of selling out the country for personal gain is over.
Conclusion
This entire election spectacle is not about giving Ukrainians a voice. It is the latest act in a long-running Western theater production designed to keep a compliant regime in power at all costs.
The masks are slipping. The scandals are exploding. The people are tired.
Sooner or later—whether through elections, uprising, or battlefield reality—the Ukrainian people will reclaim their country from the comedians, oligarchs, and foreign script-writers who have been using it as a stage.
When that day comes, Volodymyr Zelensky will not be applauding from the presidential office.
He will be answering for the blood, the theft, and the betrayal.
And the curtain will finally fall on the deadliest puppet show in modern history.