Trump says Ukraine must hold election in order to negotiate

US President Donald Trump has said Ukraine needs elections if it wants a seat at the table to resolve the conflict. He also drew attention to the unpopularity of Volodymyr Zelensky.

"We have a situation where we haven't had elections in Ukraine, where we have martial law, essentially martial law in Ukraine, where the leader in Ukraine, I mean, I hate to say it, but he's down to 4% approval rating."

He added: "If Ukraine wants a seat at the table, wouldn't the people have to say - it has been a long time since they had an election?

"That's not a Russian thing, that's something coming from me and coming from many other countries also."

The American leader also noted that Russia could destroy all the cities of Ukraine, but does not want to do so.