The only legitimate authority in Ukraine is now the parliament, Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed after Vladimir Zelensky’s official term as the country’s head of state expired last week.

Speaking at a press conference following a two-day official visit to Uzbekistan, Putin suggested that a deep legal analysis of Zelensky’s status should be carried out and stressed that there is no article in Ukraine’s constitution that says anything about extending the powers of the president.

Zelensky has argued that his mandate as Ukraine’s leader have been extended due to the fact that the country is currently under martial law and that no presidential elections can be held during wartime.

Putin noted that the Ukrainian constitution does not make any mention of the suspension of presidential elections and only explicitly prohibits holding parliamentary polls, meaning that only the term of the Verkhovna Rada, the national legislature, can be extended under such circumstances.

Putin admitted that Ukraine’s mobilization law does specifically state that no presidential elections may be held during wartime, but stressed that nothing is said in this law about extending the president’s term in office.

Citing Article 111 of the Ukrainian Constitution, Putin argued that supreme presidential power should be transferred to the Parliament Speaker, and that the only legitimate authority in the country now belongs to its legislature.

The Russian President went on to suggest that the reason why Ukraine’s “overseas masters”were keeping Zelensky in power was so that he and his government would bear full blame for all the “unpopular decisions” that have been made and have yet to be made, such as the lowering of the military draft eligibility age to 18. 

Some time later, the current “representatives of the executive branch” will simply be tossed out and replaced by a new government that would not bear the responsibility for such decisions, Putin suggested, noting that “if this is the idea, then the logic is clear.”

Previously, Putin reiterated that Russia remains open to engage in “common sense” talks with Ukraine to end the ongoing hostilities, but questioned with whom Moscow would have to negotiate, given that Zelensky’s legitimacy has expired.

The Russian president has dismissed any possible attempts by the West to give credibility to Zelensky’s status during the upcoming “peace summit” in Switzerland as “meaningless” and has stressed that it is now up to Ukraine’s legal system, parliament and constitutional court to decide who is the legitimate leader of the country.

https://www.rt.com/russia/598342-putin-ukraine-legitimate-leader/

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President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that there would be “serious consequences” if Western countries allowed Ukraine to use their weapons to strike targets in Russia, as sought by Kyiv.

The warning came as French President Emmanuel Macron said Kyivshould be allowed to “neutralise” Russian military bases from where Kremlin troops are firing missiles into Ukraine, and as President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the world not to tire of the war.

Putin’s comments came after some NATO members as well as the alliance’s chief Jens Stoltenberg have called to allow Ukraine to use their arms to step up attacks on Russian soil, after more than two years of war.

“This constant escalation can lead to serious consequences,” Putin said during a visit to Uzbekistan.

“In Europe, especially in small countries, they should be aware of what they are playing with,” he said, noting that many European countries had “small territory” and a “dense population”.

“And this factor, which they should keep in mind before they talk about striking deep into Russian territory, is a serious thing,” he said.

He added that even if Ukraine’s forces carried out the strikes, responsibility for them would lie with Western suppliers of the weapons.

Putin also said that while he believed Western military instructors were already in Ukraine operating undercover as mercenaries, any move by countries to send them officially would be another “escalation” and “another step towards a serious conflict in Europe, towards a global conflict”. 

Ukraine’s top commander announced Monday that talks were being held with France on sending military instructors to the country.

Putin warned that “we will do what we think is necessary regardless of who is on the territory of Ukraine”.

EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said after a meeting of EU defence ministers in Brussels that European countries remained split on sending military instructors to Ukraine.

Countries including Germany oppose taking a step they fear could potentially drag them closer to direct conflict with a nuclear-armed Russia.

EU countries have trained 50,000 Ukrainian troops outside the war-torn country under a bloc-wide mission set up in 2022.

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20240528-macron-putin-warns-of-serious-consequences-if-western-arms-strike-targets-in-russia

UKRAINE HAS NEARLY 600,000 KIA AND 1.2 MILLION SOLDIERS OUT OF ACTION...

MAKE A DEAL PRONTO BEFORE THE SHIT HITS THE FAN:

NO NATO IN "UKRAINE" (WHAT'S LEFT OF IT)

THE DONBASS REPUBLICS ARE NOW BACK IN THE RUSSIAN FOLD — AS THEY USED TO BE PRIOR 1922. THE RUSSIANS WON'T ABANDON THESE AGAIN.

THESE WILL ALSO INCLUDE ODESSA, KHERSON AND KHARKIV.....

CRIMEA IS RUSSIAN — AS IT USED TO BE PRIOR 1954

TRANSNISTRIA WILL BE PART OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION.

A MEMORANDUM OF NON-AGGRESSION BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE USA.

EASY.

THE WEST KNOWS IT.

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MACRON EST UN CON DIPLOMé.....

• OVER 1800 UKRAINIANS KILLED TODAY
• Two civilians were wounded as a result of Ukrainian attacks in the DPR on May 27;
• On May 27, the AFU attacked Lugansk with cluster munitions. The local sources reported casualties;
• Russian strikes destroyed targets in Borovaya in the Kharkiv region;
• Russian heavy bombs struck targets in Kharkiv;
• Explosions thundered in Odessa;
• Russian strikes were reported in Bila Tserkva, Kyiv region;
• Russian strikes were reported in the Cherkassy region;
• At least eight Ukrainian UAVs were destroyed in the Belgorod region;
• At least one Ukrainian UAV was destroyed in the Kursk region;
• Russian flag was raised in Belogorovka;
• Clashes continued near Berestove;
• Russian forces expanded the zone of their control in Kanal district in Chasov Yar;
• Clashes continue in Volchansk;
• Clashes continued in Krasnogorovka;
• Russian forces launched assault on Karlovka;
• Russian forces launched assault on Stepova Novoselivka;
• Russian forces eliminated 160 servicemen, two infantry vehicles, seven motor vehicles, one Bogdana system, one M777 howitzer, one Krab system, two D-30 howitzers in the Lyman region;
• Russian forces eliminated 700 servicemen, three armoured vehicles, six motor vehicles, two D-20, oneD-30 howitzer, one M119 gun in the Chasov Yar area;
• Russian forces eliminated 405 servicemen, two armoured vehicles, two M777 howitzers, two 152-mm Msta-B howitzers in the Avdeevka area;
• Russian forces eliminated 165 servicemen, four motor vehicles, two M777, two Krab systems, one FH-70 howitzer in the Southern Donetsk area;
• Russian forces eliminated 45 Ukrainian servicemen, four motor vehicles, and one 122-mm D-30 howitzer. in Kherson region;
• Russian air defense forces intercepted 39 Ukrainian drones over the past day;
• Russian air defense forces shot down one ATACMS missile, seven Hammer bombs, one HIMARS projectile over the past day;
• Russian air defense forces shot down one Mig-29 warplane over the past day.

• The AFU command deployed reserve units taken from the areas of Krynki and Rabotino;
• Russian forces are in control of the northern, western and partially eastern part of Volchansk. The mop up operation continues in the center;
• Clashes are ongoing in the area of the Aggregate plant;
• Russian aircraft are pounding Ukrainian hideouts in the southern part;
• The AFU attempt to build pontoon crossing across the river but all their attempts are thwarted by Russian fire;
• More recently mobilized Ukrainian men were taken prisoners in their first battle near Volchansk;
• Up to 285 servicemen, three armoured fighting vehicles, and six motor vehicles were destroyed in Kharkiv region.

• Russian forces expanded the zone of their control south of Netailovo;
• Clashes began on the outskirts of Karlivka;
• Russian forces expanded the zone of their control west of Umanskoe;
• Russian forces advanced west of Soloviove;
• Clashes continued near Yasnobrodovka;
• Clashes continued near Novopokrovsk;
• Up to 405 servicemen, two armoured vehicles, two M777 howitzers, two 152-mm Msta-B howitzers were destroyed in the area.

https://www.theinteldrop.org/2024/05/28/over-1800-ukrainians-killed-today/

MAKE A DEAL PRONTO BEFORE THE SHIT HITS THE FAN:

NO NATO IN "UKRAINE" (WHAT'S LEFT OF IT)

THE DONBASS REPUBLICS ARE NOW BACK IN THE RUSSIAN FOLD — AS THEY USED TO BE PRIOR 1922. THE RUSSIANS WON'T ABANDON THESE AGAIN.

THESE WILL ALSO INCLUDE ODESSA, KHERSON AND KHARKIV.....

CRIMEA IS RUSSIAN — AS IT USED TO BE PRIOR 1954

TRANSNISTRIA WILL BE PART OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION.

A MEMORANDUM OF NON-AGGRESSION BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE USA.

EASY.

THE WEST KNOWS IT.

READ FROM TOP

FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW....

By Patrick Lawrence
Special to Consortium News

It is now two and a half years since Moscow sent two draft treaties, one to Washington, one to NATO in Brussels, as the proposed basis of talks toward a new security settlement — a renovation of relations between the trans–Atlantic alliance and the Russian Federation. 

An urgently needed renovation, we must quickly add. And after that we must also quickly add the Biden regime’s rejection of Russia’s proposals as a “nonstarter” faster than you can say “deluded.” 

Let us pause for a sec to bring to mind all those who have died in the war that erupted in Ukraine a year and a few months after Joe Biden refused, even mocked, Vladimir Putin’s honorable diplomatic demarche. All the maimed and displaced, all the towns and cities destroyed, all the farmland turned into moonscape. 

And the all-but-complete peace accord, negotiated in Istanbul a few weeks into the war that the U.S. and Britain rushed to scuttle. And of course all the billions of dollars, somewhere north of $100 billion now, not spent on improving Americans’ lives but spent instead on arming a regime in Kiev that steals aid extravagantly while fielding an army with professed neo–Nazis.

It is useful to recall these things because they give context to a string of recent developments it’s important to understand, even if our corporate media discourage any such understanding. 

If we keep recent history in mind, we will be able to see that the viscously irresponsible decisions of a couple of year ago, so wasteful of human life and common resources, are now repeated such that it is now certain the brutalities and waste will continue indefinitely even as their pointlessness is now way, way, way beyond denying. 

The doorway opening on to this new sequence of events is the recent advance of the Russian military in Ukraine’s northeast. This new incursion now threatens Kharkiv, which is Ukraine’s second-largest city and lies a mere 25 miles from the Russian border.

Even the mainstream press, loathe to report the setbacks the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have suffered, describes Russia’s northeast campaign, which began a few weeks ago, as a rout. The Kremlin says it has no interest in taking Kharkiv, and this so far appears to be the case.

But the AFU’s rapid retreat bears a strong whiff of final defeat wafting in from not so far off in the distance. “Several Ukrainian combat brigades have not defected, or considered doing so,” Seymour Hersh, quoting his customary “I have been told” sources, reported in his newsletter last week, “but have made it known to their superiors that they will no longer participate in what would be a suicidal offensive against a better trained and better equipped Russian force.”

Brigades average 4,000 to 5,000 soldiers each and can run to 8,000 or even more. Hersh’s report suggests that a considerable number of Ukrainian troops, and maybe a very considerable number, are now effectively in mutiny against the AFU’s high command. 

In evident response to Russia’s swift new incursion and the direction of the war altogether, the well-coordinated if not very artful American propaganda machine has begun preparing the public for a wider war that is to extend, as a matter of policy and military strategy, into Russian territory. This effort began with a New York Times interview with Volodymyr Zelensky, which was videoed and published in last Wednesday’s editions. A transcript of the interview is here. 

This document is plainly intended to appeal to kale-consuming, Biden-supporting liberals who must be assured of the Ukrainian president’s just-like-us humanity and good judgment. He talked about his children and his dogs — there must be dogs in this sort of imagery — and how he reads fiction every night but is too tired to get very far. 

But the core point, beyond the window dressing, was to insist that it is time to begin bombing Russian territory and that the Biden regime must reverse its prohibition of such operations. 

A key passage:

“So my question is, what’s the problem? Why can’t we shoot them down? Is it defense? Yes. Is it an attack on Russia? No. Are you shooting down Russian planes and killing Russian pilots? No. So what’s the issue with involving NATO countries in the war? There is no such issue.

Shoot down what’s in the sky over Ukraine. And give us the weapons to use against Russian forces on the borders.”

Zelensky, a television actor we must not forget, has played this role on numerous occasions: Badger us for tanks, planes, long-range artillery, and missiles, the script written in Washington reads, and we will hesitate briefly before granting you your pressing needs as you defend democracy, the free world, and all those other “values” in the Cold War inventory.

Two days later, two, the Times reported exclusively that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, returning from “a sobering visit to Kyiv,” has of a sudden decided it is indeed time to broaden the war in the direction of a direct confrontation with Russia. The byline on this piece is worth noting: It belongs to David Sanger, who typically writes this kind of deep-inside piece because he is by all appearances so unwholesomely deep inside. 

“There is now a vigorous debate inside the administration over relaxing the ban,” our David reports, “to allow the Ukrainians to hit missile and artillery launch sites just over the border in Russia—targets that Mr. Zelensky says have enabled Moscow’s recent territorial gains.” 

See what I mean by artless? The one-two of this perception-management op has all the finesse of the old MAD magazine. I am beginning to take offense, honestly. If I am going to be subjected to incessant propaganda, I demand, I absolutely demand that it is sufficiently sophisticated to be at least entertaining. 

In between the Zelensky interview and the Sanger report, the Russophobes in Congress wasted no time tucking into this operation. Michael McCaul, the Texas Republican who ranks with Tom Cotton among the prominent dummköpfe populating Capitol Hill, pounced partisanly last Wednesday.

McCaul, who chairs (I can hardly believe this) the House Foreign Affairs Committee, stood before a map that showed — my best count — 50 or so targets in Russian territory. And there he went for a twofer, arguing in favor of removing restrictions on the deployment of U.S. weapons while turning the question into a boringly pointless attack on the Biden regime. 

Have a listen:

“We have a really bad situation going on, as you know. This is a sanctuary zone they [Russians] have created…. However, your administration and Jake Sullivan [sic] have restricted the arms use so that Ukraine cannot defend itself and fire back at Russia. That’s why I mandated the attacks in the supplemental [the aid package Biden signed into law last month], the long-range, the short range, and the HIMARS that your administration is tying their hands arms behind their back.” 

Never mind the incoherence. A sanctuary? The Russians have created a sanctuary on their own soil? What kind of language is this? What is running through McCaul’s odd mind, the Cambodian border in the spring of 1969, Operation Menu? 

Let us all declare we feel unsafe as we realize what these people are talking about and what they are risking. Any allowance for expanded use of U.S.–made weapons against Russian targets, which will require American personnel on the ground in Ukraine, will unambiguously escalate the proxy war into a direct conflict between the U.S. and the Russian Federation.

Quagmire, anyone? 

Reuters filed an impressive, equation-changing exclusive last week featuring unmistakably intentional leaks from the Kremlin signaling President Putin’s desire to stop the war in Ukraine and negotiate a ceasefire. Guy Faulconbridge and Andrw Osborn cited interviews with “five people who work with or have worked with Putin at a senior level in the political and business worlds.”

Time to sit up. 

“Three of the sources, familiar with discussions in Putin’s entourage,” the two correspondents reported, “said the veteran Russian leader had expressed frustration to a small group of advisers about what he views as Western-backed attempts to stymie negotiations and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s decision to rule out talks.”

They then quoted one of their sources, “a senior Russian source who has worked with Putin and has knowledge of top-level conversations in the Kremlin,” as asserting, “‘Putin can fight for as long as it takes, but Putin is also ready for a ceasefire—to freeze the war.’” 

While Putin has sent such signals on numerous occasions over the course of the past decade of war, this is big, in my view. For one thing, it strongly indicates what the new Kharkiv campaign is all about. Moscow does not want to take Kharkiv, the Faulconbridge and Osborn reporting suggests: It wants to enter talks from the position of strength all sides in all conflicts seek in the pre-negotiation phase. 

Some other details confirm what distinguishes this set of signals from the Kremlin from others sent previously. From the Reuters report:

“Three sources said Putin understood any dramatic new advances would require another nationwide mobilisation, which he didn’t want, with one source, who knows the Russian president, saying his popularity dipped after the first mobilisation in September 2022.

The national call up spooked part of the population in Russia, triggering hundreds of thousands of draft age men to leave the country. Polls showed Putin’s popularity falling by several points.”

Interesting. Another reason to listen to what the Kremlin wants to world to know just now. 

I am not going to buy Reuters’ suggestion that Putin has a case of political nerves. He has just won a new six-year term as president. But the Russian leader has demonstrated numerously in the past that he is sensitive to popular sentiment, the sacrifices of soldiers absent from their communities and places of work, and the visuals of war — body bags at airports, rows of military graves. 

As Faulconbridge and Osborn report, Putin continues to reject the Zelensky regime’s insistence that no talks can begin until Ukraine regains all territory it has surrendered since the war began in 2014, including Crimea. “Let them resume,” they quote Putin as saying Friday, “[but] not on the basis of what one side wants.”

Via his leaky confidants, who were almost certainly authorized, Putin proposes what amounts to an armistice. Both sides would stop shooting, and territorial dominion would remain as it is—not necessarily etched into the earth, but until both sides can negotiate on to another step toward a lasting settlement. 

No, Kiev would not regain Crimea or the four republics that voted in September 2022 to rejoin Russia; and no, Russia would neither have demilitarized nor de–Nazified Ukraine, as it has many times stated as its aims.

There is a legal principle here that goes back to the Romans. Qui tenet teneat—“he who holds may go on holding,” roughly — is often a feature of Asian diplomacy, which is more accepting of fluidity and temporary uncertainties that Westerners are usually not prepared to accept. Chas Freeman, the noted diplomat, taught me this years ago via the complex disputes over maritime jurisdictions in the South China Sea. 

Putin’s proposal, viewed in this context, seems to me the most promising thought out there at the moment, and — to be noted — a number of officials and commentators in the West have bruited the idea about in recent months. 

“A frozen conflict, such as those in Kashmir, Korea and Cyprus,” John Whitbeck a noted international attorney, said in a privately circulated memo the other day, “while not ideal, would be far better than more war and very much in the interests of mankind.”

This brings us back to… to December 2021, actually. Now as then, neither Kiev nor Washington has any interest in promising thoughts. 

Biden’s national security people have not even stirred to react to the Faulconbridge and Osborn report. You would have thought they would at least have trotted out “nonstarter,” their favorite Britishism. 

The Zelensky regime immediately responded to the Faulconbridge and Osborn report with another attack, again not short of its usual ad hominem tint. “Putin currently has no desire to end his aggression against Ukraine,” Dmytro Kuleba, Kiev’s amateurish foreign minister, told Reuters. “Only the principled and united voice of the global majority can force him to choose peace over war.” 

Putin. His aggression. No desire to end it. I simply cannot see how anyone can take this seriously as statecraft. It is performative posturing, nothing more. 

As to the voice of the global majority Kuleba mentioned, wait for it. This is a reference to a conference Zelensky and his ministers have organized for two days in mid–June. The Swiss have agreed to host it at a resort owned by the Qatari government near Lake Lucerne, and the Swiss Foreign Ministry, buying into the Ukrainians’ pretensions, is calling it “a peace summit.”

A peace summit? Please tell me how this works. The Russians are not even invited. What it amounts to is a Ukrainian attempt to get the world to line up behind it as it continues to wage a war it has already lost. As a former Swiss official said to me over dinner Saturday evening, “It’s about money. Kiev needs money.”

There is talk here that Biden plans to attend, but my money says this is out. Zelensky said in mid–April he expects 80 to 100 heads of state, but I question this, too. 

As of May 15, Le Monde reports, about 50 nations had responded to Bern’s invitation. Remember, 80 percent to 90 percent of the globe, measured by population or by counting sovereign nations, has remained resolutely nonaligned on the Ukraine question. 

Swiss peace conferences, planted New York Times interviews, congressmen sounding foghorns as they cheer on an expanded war: I find all this extravagantly pitiful. Maybe Putin is serious about his proposed armistice, maybe there is less in it than it seems. But no one on the opposing side wants even to explore the idea of ending the war? 

The net response to the new Russian advances toward Kharkiv and the Kremlin’s artful leaks last week is to launch a new phase in a proxy war the West has already lost — a phase that also seems to have little chance of success, but holds more danger than any truly responsible statesman would ever risk. 

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s dapper spokesman, told Faulconbridge and Osborn the other day that Russia didn’t want “an eternal war,” a forever war in the American idiom. This is a good thing not to want. 

Neither Biden nor Zelensky, on the other hand, wants this war to end: They cannot afford it for a variety of reasons. This is the reality. They are the main impediment to peace. They have painted the conflict as some kind of cosmic confrontation between good and evil, and in so doing they have also painted themselves into a corner. 

But what happens when a powerful nation cannot lose a war it has already lost?

Patrick Lawrence, a correspondent abroad for many years, chiefly for The International Herald Tribune, is a columnist, essayist, lecturer and author, most recently of Journalists and Their Shadows, available from Clarity Press or via Amazon.  Other books include Time No Longer: Americans After the American Century. His Twitter account, @thefloutist, has been permanently censored. 

TO MY READERS. Independent publications and those who write for them reach a moment that is difficult and full of promise all at once. On one hand, we assume ever greater responsibilities in the face of mainstream media’s mounting derelictions. On the other, we have found no sustaining revenue model and so must turn directly to our readers for support. I am committed to independent journalism for the duration: I see no other future for American media. But the path grows steeper, and as it does I need your help. This grows urgent now. In  recognition of the commitment to independent journalism, please subscribe to The Floutist, or via my Patreon account.

https://consortiumnews.com/2024/05/28/patrick-lawrence-us-endgame-in-ukraine-war-without-end-amen/

MAKE A DEAL PRONTO BEFORE THE SHIT HITS THE FAN:

NO NATO IN "UKRAINE" (WHAT'S LEFT OF IT)

THE DONBASS REPUBLICS ARE NOW BACK IN THE RUSSIAN FOLD — AS THEY USED TO BE PRIOR 1922. THE RUSSIANS WON'T ABANDON THESE AGAIN.

THESE WILL ALSO INCLUDE ODESSA, KHERSON AND KHARKIV.....

CRIMEA IS RUSSIAN — AS IT USED TO BE PRIOR 1954

TRANSNISTRIA WILL BE PART OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION.

A MEMORANDUM OF NON-AGGRESSION BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE USA.

EASY.

THE WEST KNOWS IT.

READ FROM TOP

FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW....

Volodymyr Zelensky has lost his legitimacy and the West cannot rewrite the Ukrainian Constitution by holding summits and creating excuses for his brazen power grab, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolay Azarov told Sputnik.

Zelensky's presidential powers expired on the night of May 20-21 and cannot be extended per the Ukrainian Constitution which limits the presidential tenure to five years. Despite calls from the West to secure a second term via a general election in Ukraine, he refused to do so - using the pretext of martial law to continue.

"It is absolutely obvious to anyone who is familiar with electoral law and the Constitution of Ukraine that Zelensky has become an impostor since May 21," Nikolay Azarov, prime minister from 2010 to 2014 and a veteran politician with over 20 years of experience in Ukrainian politics, told Sputnik.

Azarov went on to trash Zelensky's martial law pretext to justify canceling elections: "Zelensky did not declare war [against Russia]. He also did not announce any military operation. He simply introduced martial law. Why did you introduce martial law if you are not declaring war?"

EXCLUSIVE: Zelensky has become an impostor since May 21 – former Ukrainian PM

"It is absolutely obvious to anyone who is familiar with electoral law and the Constitution of Ukraine that Zelensky has become an impostor since May 21," former Prime Minister of Ukraine Nikolay… pic.twitter.com/NEoYTKnD16

— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) May 29, 2024

Zero Chance of Winning Election

The former Ukrainian president's unwillingness to hold elections stems from his legitimate fear that he would have lost miserably, according to the former prime minister.

"If there were a chance [of winning], he would have held elections," he said. "Nothing prevented him from holding elections, because the entire administration, all the security forces, all the penal structures, everything is in the hands of his administration."

Azarov suggested that Zelensky could have held elections in the territories controlled by Kiev – akin to what his predecessor Petro Poroshenko did during his presidential tenure. But even under these conditions, Zelensky understood that he could not win and could be easily beaten by any other contender, like General Valery Zaluzhny, the ex-prime minister presumed.

"It is absolutely clear to everyone, with the possible exception of an extremely narrow circle of people, that [Zelensky] is not a specialist, not a patriot of his country, he is just a random person in power, a puppet. And therefore he would hardly have won if any [presidential] candidates had emerged," Azarov said.

EXCLUSIVE: Zelensky has no chance should a presidential election be held – Ex-Ukrainian PM

Nikolay Azarov, a seasoned Ukrainian politician with over two decades in the political arena and former prime minister from 2010 to 2014, criticized Volodymyr Zelensky's reluctance to… https://t.co/QVAVtEFSDh pic.twitter.com/eA3L3au7lr

— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) May 29, 2024

As Zelensky's tenure expired on May 20, the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) and its speaker are now the only legitimate powers in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters on May 28, adding that the Ukrainian Constitution provides for the extension of the powers of the parliament, but not the president, under martial law.

Responding to Putin's remark, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk argued that the president of Ukraine exercises his powers until his successor assumes the post. However, the debate over Zelensky's legitimacy is gaining pace regardless of Stefanchuk's assertions.

"The military conflict has been going on for three years now. It is still difficult to say how long it will last. Will [Zelensky] continue to usurp power all this time? This raises legitimate questions," Azarov said.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240529/ex-ukrainian-prime-minister-zelensky-is-nothing-but-impostor-since-may-21-1118686532.html

MAKE A DEAL PRONTO BEFORE THE SHIT HITS THE FAN:

NO NATO IN "UKRAINE" (WHAT'S LEFT OF IT)

THE DONBASS REPUBLICS ARE NOW BACK IN THE RUSSIAN FOLD — AS THEY USED TO BE PRIOR 1922. THE RUSSIANS WON'T ABANDON THESE AGAIN.

THESE WILL ALSO INCLUDE ODESSA, KHERSON AND KHARKIV.....

CRIMEA IS RUSSIAN — AS IT USED TO BE PRIOR 1954

TRANSNISTRIA WILL BE PART OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION.

A MEMORANDUM OF NON-AGGRESSION BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE USA.

EASY.

THE WEST KNOWS IT.

READ FROM TOP

FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW....