Putin Floats Plan For UN To Govern Ukraine Until Elections Held

Amid weeks of peace talks between the US and Russia focused on Ukraine, but which largely haven’t gotten anywhere (other than an energy ceasefire which quickly appeared to be broken), President Putin has presented a big-picture idea which could result in ceasefire.

The Russian leader on Friday proposed a “transitional administration” for Ukraine under the auspices of the UN. The immediate aim would be ceasefire leading toward ”democratic” election, followed by the negotiation of a peace agreement with the new authorities.

“We could, of course, discuss with the United States, even with European countries, and of course with our partners and friends, under the auspices of the UN, the possibility of establishing a transitional administration in Ukraine,” Putin said while visiting the northwestern Russian city of Murmansk.

He laid out that ”we could discuss the possibility of introduction of temporary governance in Ukraine,” while Ukraine holds “democratic elections, to bring to power a capable government that enjoys the trust of the people.”

After this, he explained, the two warring sides would “start talks with them about a peace treaty.” Putin has in the recent past complained that Zelensky is ‘illegitimate’ and thus can’t legally be negotiated with, since he has canceled democratic elections on an indefinite basis.

As examples of where a temporary UN governance scheme has been implemented before, Putin held out “several cases of what is called external government,” in East Timor, Papua New Guinea, and parts of the former Yugoslavia.

But anonymous Trump admin officials quickly dismissed the idea, for example with NBC reporting that the White House has “dismissed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s suggestion that peace talks in Ukraine should depend on the country being governed by the United Nations while new elections are held.”

And Reuters has cited a White House national security spokesperson who dismissed Putin’s proposal, saying that “Ukraine’s government was determined by its constitution and citizens.”

The Ukrainian government did not immediately respond to Putin’s plan, but will no doubt reject it based on maintaining sovereignty, and given Zelensky has not relented on demands for a new election, nor has he ordered his forces to retreat.

“That’s just one of the potential options.”

PUTIN: THE U.N. COULD TEMPORARILY GOVERN UKRAINE

In a stunning statement, Putin said the United Nations could temporarily govern Ukraine in order to “hold democratic elections” and “bring power to a capable government.”

Putin:

“That’s just one of the potential options.”… https://t.co/K8VjSiGwV5 pic.twitter.com/GtjQxQoR4c

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 27, 2025

Putin in the fresh remarks where he floated the UN-administration plan had some other interesting comments, directed specifically at his US counterpart Donald Trump:

Putin also praised US President Donald Trump, saying, “In my opinion, the newly elected president of the United States sincerely wants an end to the conflict for a number of reasons.”

He stressed that Moscow favored “peaceful solutions to any conflict, including this one, through peaceful means, but not at our expense.”

Putin also praised Russian troops for “holding the strategic initiative” throughout the war. “There are reasons to believe that we will finish them off,” he said, adding that “the Ukrainian people themselves should understand what is happening.” 

As for the war, drones have continued to fly across the border in both directions on a nightly basis. Even though a ‘partial ceasefire’ is supposed to be on – protecting both countries’ energy infrastructure – it doesn’t look as if this is actually sticking.

Moscow has on repeat occasions this week accused Kiev of attack its energy sites. Simultaneously, Russian missiles have rained down on Ukrainian cities.