MOSCOW, April 16. /TASS/. The Verkhovna Rada has voted to prolong martial law and general mobilization from May 9 to August 6, said deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak.
"This is the 15th time in this convocation that parliament approved extension of martial law," he wrote on a Telegram channel.
"The Rada also adopted a second bill to extend general mobilization until August 6."
The martial law extension received 357 votes in favor, one against, while four deputies did not participate. The continuation of general mobilization was backed by 346 deputies, one voted against, one abstained, and 11 did not vote.
Response to Washington
Vladimir Zelensky submitted the bills to parliament on Tuesday amid Washington's remarks about the chances for resolving the Ukrainian conflict. On April 14, US President Donald Trump said he expects "very good proposals" for a settlement soon. Later US special envoy Steven Witkoff said that the United States was making progress in negotiations with Russia on concluding a deal on Ukraine.
Rodion Miroshnik, the Russian Foreign Ministry's ambassador-at-large for the crimes committed by the Kiev regime, told TASS that Zelensky had thus demonstrated a lack of regard for the US peacekeeping initiatives.
Deputy Artyom Dmitruk called Zelensky’s actions "a spit in the direction of Trump," who is trying to stop the conflict. Dmitruk said the Kiev regime is "dragging out the war by the ears."
Election outlook
Parliamentary and presidential elections are not held in Ukraine due to martial law. However, over the past weeks, there have been repeated speculations in the Ukrainian media that martial law and general mobilization may not be extended this time amid negotiations to resolve the conflict with the participation of the United States. There were even possible dates for the presidential and parliamentary elections, including this summer. However, Zelensky's team insisted that this was impossible.
Miroshnik told TASS that the very fact of submitting bills on the extension of regimes "in this form and at such a time demonstrates at least the unwillingness of Zelensky and his entourage to discuss the possibility of holding elections at all."
Zelensky's presidential term officially expired on May 20 last year, but he is doing everything to remain in power, including trying to remove potential political opponents and delay a peaceful settlement. As Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said, Zelensky's legitimacy is over, so it is important to understand who to deal with in Kiev to sign legally binding documents.
Rada tensions
Since Tuesday, a serious conflict has erupted between the Rada deputies over voting, and behind-the-scenes tensions continued until the beginning of the parliamentary session, although this issue had not previously sparked discussions.
On Tuesday, former president Pyotr Poroshenko (included by Rosfinmonitoring on the list of persons involved in extremist activities or terrorism), noted that Zelensky's office began to abuse extension of martial law and usurp power. He also expressed concern at the fact that Zelensky initiated the extension in advance — a month before the expiration of the current regimes. A member of Poroshenko's party, deputy Alexey Goncharenko (listed in Russia as a terrorist and extremist), said he would not vote for the extension. Members of the ruling Servant of the People party and speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk also reacted negatively.
When considering the issue in parliament, only Goncharenko voted against the extension. Dmytruk said on Wednesday morning that Rada deputies received messages before voting that measures would be taken against them if they did not support this decision.