Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on 9 October that letting Russia sell petroleum products was "an investment in a war that must be ended, not prolonged"1. On the same day he named a price for halting Ukraine's deep-strike campaign of long-range drone attacks inside Russia: no strikes on Russian refineries if Russia stops destroying Ukraine's energy system.
Donald Trump went further on 10 October. Newsweek reported him telling reporters outside The White House: "I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal"2. Zelenskyy replied on 11 October on ABC's Sunday programme This Week that the choice is "up to our people". He named terms: "Total ceasefire, 60 days, and we will organize elections."
Ukrainian law bars elections under martial law, in force since February 2022, so a vote needs Moscow to stop firing first. Zelenskyy's answer moves the burden of an election onto the Kremlin. Mykhailo Fedorov, whose sacking as defence minister in July set off three days of protests across eight Ukrainian cities, was already pressing in August for a way round the ban.
