Russia does not recognize legitimacy of Ukrainian authorities to disrupt future agreements – ISW

Russian senior officials continue to repeat the false narrative about the illegitimacy of the Ukrainian government, probably with the aim of creating conditions for manipulating the ceasefire negotiations and abandoning any future russian-Ukrainian agreements at any time at russia's own discretion.

This is stated in the russian Offensive Campaign Assessment by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) as of April 29, 2025, the Ukrainian News agency reports.

Thus, kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated on April 29 that the so-called "illegitimacy" of the presidency of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would create legal difficulties for direct peace talks between russia and Ukraine, but russia is allegedly more interested in starting negotiations, and "everything else is secondary."

Additionally, on April 24, Peskov said that russia would resume the war if "people... question Zelenskyy's legitimacy" and said that russia has "no trust" in the Ukrainian government.

Analysts also recall that russian dictator vladimir putin and other senior officials have repeatedly stated that all Ukrainian governments since 2014 are "illegitimate" and that russia will not consider any agreements concluded with the current Ukrainian government as binding.

Putin and other russian officials have similarly stated that Zelenskyy is illegitimate because Ukraine did not hold presidential elections in 2024, and have further argued that all Ukrainian civilian authorities are illegitimate because the president appoints regional officials. However, Ukraine's constitution explicitly prohibits holding elections during martial law and the invasion of a hostile country.

“The Kremlin is deliberately coupling its purported interest in Russian-Ukrainian peace negotiations with its false narrative of Zelensky's illegitimacy in order to set conditions for Russia to claim that any future peace settlement that Russia signs with Zelensky is illegitimate, to renege on the agreement, and relaunch the invasion at the time of Russia's choosing,” the report said.

The ISW added: “Any long-term peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine must include Russia's explicit recognition of the legitimacy of the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian Constitution.”

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on April 25, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff held a three-hour meeting with president vladimir putin in moscow to discuss the US plan to end the war in Ukraine. They also discussed, among other things, the resumption of direct talks between russia and Ukraine.