Ukraine’s Parliament Extends Martial Law, Pushing Back Election Timeline

Ukraine’s martial law system allows for military conscription and the suspension of certain political activities, including regular democratic elections.

A soldier of the 13th Khartiia Brigade in a trench during a snowstorm in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Dec. 6, 2024. Nikoletta Stoyanova/Getty Images

Ukrainian lawmakers voted on April 16 to extend the country’s term of martial law, continuing their wartime authorities and pushing back any possibility of holding new elections until at least August.

Ukraine’s Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, initially declared martial law on Feb. 24, 2022, as Russian troops rolled into the country. Lawmakers in Kyiv have continued this martial law declaration in 90-day increments for the past three years.

This state of martial law allows the Kyiv government to mobilize the populace for military service. During a martial law period, the government may also limit speech and press freedoms and prohibit protests and certain political affiliations.

Under Ukraine’s martial law, the regular election cycle is also suspended. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s first term was due to end in spring 2024, but he remains seated as this martial law state persists. Members of the Verkhovna Rada were also set to face reelection in 2023 but have remained seated under the current wartime authorities.

In all, 357 Ukrainian lawmakers voted to extend the martial law order by 90 days on April 16. One lawmaker voted against the extension. Four of the lawmakers present did not vote.

The new martial law period will run until Aug. 6.

Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who is now in Parliament leading the largest opposition party against Zelenskyy, voted to extend the martial law order but shared his concerns about Zelenskyy remaining in power.

Addressing the Verkhovna Rada during an April 15 debate over the martial law vote, Poroshenko said continued Russian attacks, including recent heavy strikes in Ukraine’s northeast Sumy region, require Ukraine to continue under martial law. Still, he accused Zelenskyy of using martial law conditions to amass power.

“The government has started to abuse martial law, using it not only to defend the country, but to build an authoritarian regime,” he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump has urged Ukraine to resume its normal election cycle.

In February, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, the U.S. special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, said the U.S. government hoped to see Ukraine resume its regular presidential and parliamentary elections by the end of this year.

Trump and Zelenskyy traded insults and accusations later that same month, with Trump at one point referring to the Ukrainian leader as a “dictator without elections.”

As Trump has pushed for a negotiated settlement to the ongoing Russia–Ukraine war, Russian President Vladimir Putin has questioned whether the current Ukrainian government has the authority and legitimacy to uphold an eventual peace agreement.

“It is already unclear with whom to sign documents and what effect such documents might carry, for tomorrow, new leaders may come to power through elections and declare, ‘We do not know who signed those papers, so goodbye,’” Putin said last month.

Putin further suggested that an external government could be assigned to lead Ukraine through the peace process and enforce its terms. The Russian leader suggested that this external governance model for Ukraine would be similar to the U.N. Transitional Administration in East Timor, which was established to transition Timor-Leste to self-governance after two decades of Indonesian occupation and internal conflict.

Putin initially expressed interest in a U.S.-backed proposal for a broad 30-day cease-fire but raised questions about how it would be enforced. Ukraine and Russia agreed in principle to a more limited 30-day moratorium on strikes targeting each other’s energy sites, but each side has accused the other of continuing energy attacks.

In a March interview, Trump said the Russian side may be slow-walking the negotiations.

“Russia has to get moving. Too many people [are] DYING, thousands a week, in a terrible and senseless war - A war that should have never happened, and wouldn’t have happened, if I were President!!!” Trump wrote in a social media post on April 11.