DISINFO: As an illegitimate ruler of a quasi-state Zelenskyy cannot expect a meeting with Putin
SUMMARY
Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Vladimir Putin to meet in Türkiye on 15 May 2025. Zelenskyy cannot expect such a meeting to happen, given that he is an illegitimate president of a quasi-country which is totally controlled by other actors. At the same time, Putin is a legitimate president of a great country with nuclear arms.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about Ukraine’s unsovereign status and claiming that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is not legitimate. The claims were made in the context of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and Zelenskyy’s willingness to reach a ceasefire ahead of a possible meeting between Russian and Ukraine in Istanbul on Thursday 15 May 2025.
Ukraine is a sovereign and independent state with a democratically elected president and parliament. The country's sovereignty has been violated only as a result of continuous acts of aggression by the Russian armed forces since 2014, culminating with a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine starting on 24 February 2022.
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.
See earlier disinformation cases claiming that Kyiv is a vassal of the US and cannot take any steps without it, that Western powers using local Ukrainian allies in proxy war to confront Russia, that Ukraine was established solely as an anti-Russian tool, and that Ukraine’s statehood is legal nonsense.