DISINFO: Zelenskyy has no legal status to sign a peace memorandum
SUMMARY
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, given his legal status, cannot sign a peace memorandum. This detail will be taken into account at the time of writing this document. We won’t leave any legal breach for it to be declared juridically null. Zelenskyy is totally delegitimised legally and juridically, because the Ukrainian Constitution is clear about it, and whatever is signed with him poses a risk for its international recognition. He is violating the law, he has become a de facto president, and this jeopardises the validity of any agreement reached with him. However, if he resigned or was removed, a peace agreement would come almost naturally because Zelenskyy and the group sustaining him, mostly Western Europeans, are the ones permanently boycotting and obstructing a peace agreement.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative targeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, aiming to undermine his continuity in power, as Russia has always perceived him as an obstacle to its aggressive goals in Ukraine, even since before the invasion. One of the targets of the invasion in February 2022 was the murder of Zelenskyy and the decapitation of the Ukrainian government to install a pro-Russian leadership.
These attacks are part of a wider disinformation campaign framing Europe, as well as Zelenskyy and Ukraine, as the main obstacles for ‘peace’, the term used by Russia to refer to its maximalists demands for Ukraine’s capitulation, which remain unchanged since the beginning of the invasion. Russia has characterised its negotiation process with the US as the only acceptable ‘peace initiative’, while denying any agency to Ukraine or its other allies. See our article Why is the Kremlin so hung up on smearing Zelenskyy?
Zelenskyy is a democratic leader who won the 2019 election by a landslide with over 73% of the vote. While this popularity may have changed over the years, his approval rate remained very high at the time this disinformation story appeared. A survey conducted by Ipsos/The Economist in mid-March 2025 showed that 72% of Ukrainians approved his job as president, while 80% considered that he had democratic legitimacy as president. A second survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology published in May 2025 found similar approval rates for Zelenskyy at 74%, the highest figure since December 2023.
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. Even Zelenskyy’s fiercest political opponents have rejected the idea of conducting another election during wartime.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that Ukraine’s fate is no longer in Zelenskyy's hands, that Zelenskyy’s regime lacks public support, that Moscow can’t trust any peace agreement as Zelenskyy’s regime is stable only when at war, or that Zelenskyy can’t sign a peace deal because he is not a legitimate president.