Kyiv — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy does not plan to announce the upcoming presidential election on February 24, an adviser to the Ukrainian leader told CBS News on Wednesday, after a report suggested he would schedule a national vote due to pressure from President Trump.

“There are no changes in the negotiating direction that would prompt the president to make this announcement,” said the adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Financial Times previously reported that Zelenskyy planned to announce that presidential elections would be held as early as May during a speech on February 24, the date that will mark four years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

Zelenskyy he told reporters in Kiev last week that the Trump administration was pushing Ukraine and Russia to agree to an agreement to end the war by June.

“The Americans are proposing to the parties to end the war by the beginning of this summer, and they are likely to put pressure on the parties according to this schedule,” Zelenskyy said.

Mr. Trump has been fiercely critical of Zelensky from time to time, including comments a year ago when he called him a “dictator without choice”. But Ukrainian politicians point out that under the country’s constitution, national elections cannot be held during a state of emergency — imposed since Russia began its war.

Are elections feasible in Ukraine while the war continues?

In December, President Trump renewed that line of criticism, accusing Zelensky of “using the war” to avoid elections in interview with Politica.

The Ukrainian leader then responded to Trump’s comments, saying the election could go ahead if the US and Europe were willing to “ensure security” in his country amid the ongoing Russian attack.

Large public gatherings have been banned in Ukraine, and curfews remain in place under state of emergency measures designed to protect civilian lives. Meanwhile, Russia’s deadly airstrikes show no signs of abating.

In January alone, Russia hit Ukraine with a record 5,717 bombs and missiles, according to to the analysis of the Ukrainian group Oko Gora + News and Analytics. Explosive drone attacks were also relentless. Officials said one drone hit a civilian house during the night in the Kharkiv regionkilling the father and his three children and seriously injuring his pregnant wife.

In addition to security risks, experts say legal and logistical constraints also make holding elections during wartime nearly impossible. According to Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said it is illegal to hold either parliamentary or presidential elections under a state of emergency.

The war has also driven many Ukrainian voters out of the country, and there is little infrastructure to enable remote voting. As of November 2024, there were about 5.2 million Ukrainian refugees abroad, according to Center for Economic Strategy, while the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration estimates that an additional 3 million Ukrainians are internally displaced and would also be unable to vote at local polling stations.

For all these reasons, Ukrainian officials say elections cannot be held before the ceasefire takes effect.

Many also argue that any national election should include or be followed by a referendum for the Ukrainian people to support – or reject – the terms of any eventual deal to end the war, which could include territorial concessions from Ukraine, although Zelenskyy has so far ruled that out.

According to the president’s office, such a referendum would only be valid if more than half of the country’s eligible voters can participate in it.

“Elections are only one part of the peace plan,” an adviser to the Ukrainian president told CBS News on Wednesday. “We will vote together on all points of the peace plan and we cannot choose elections separately.”