Three years ago, support for members of a Ukrainian political party that advocated closer ties with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia plunged to near zero after Russian forces invaded Ukraine, flattening whole cities and killing tens of thousands of Ukrainians.
The party, called the Opposition Platform for Life, was banned, some members went to jail on charges of treason, and others fled Ukraine. A few former members banded together in a new faction and still sit in Parliament, but have generally kept quiet since the Russian invasion.
Now some of those pro-Russian politicians are attempting an unlikely comeback, inspired by President Trump’s attacks on Ukraine’s current leadership and Russian demands, echoed by Mr. Trump, that the country hold elections.
The politicians are posting widely viewed videos on social media in which they have promoted themselves as future candidates; criticized President Volodymyr Zelensky and his government; and praised Mr. Trump.
The efforts are unlikely to gain much traction in a country that remains overwhelmingly hostile to Russia and the people who have supported it. But analysts say the videos, which are rife with misinformation, could nonetheless stoke divisions at a time when Ukraine’s unity and its leaders are under threat from a hostile Mr. Trump.
Oleksandr Dubinsky, a former member of Parliament, has produced videos promoting what he calls a pro-Trump and pro-peace agenda from prison, where is he serving time for treason. His videos place blame Ukraine’s leaders for the war, saying they are committing genocide against the Ukrainian people, an echo of Russian propaganda.
Since November, when Mr. Trump was elected to a second term, the audience for Mr. Dubinsky’s jailhouse videos on TikTok has grown from about forty thousand to nearly 1.6 million views.
On Feb. 20, two days after Mr. Trump called Mr. Zelensky a “dictator,” Mr. Dubinsky announced that he would run for president if an election were held. Ukraine was in danger of falling into a “new form of dictatorship,” Mr. Dubinsky said, accusing Mr. Zelensky of forcing his most prominent potential challengers to renounce running for election.
A former head of the Opposition Platform for Life, Yuriy Boyko, had no activity on social media until early December, when he started posting videos from a newly opened TikTok account. In the videos, he blames “Ukrainian radicals” for laws sidelining Russian language in public spaces, a theme that has long been voiced by Mr. Putin.
The pro-Russian politicians appear to have at least some support within the Trump administration. In 2023, Tulsi Gabbard, who is now serving as the national intelligence director, criticized the banning of Opposition Platform for Life, saying that Mr. Zelensky had “outlawed opposition political parties.”
However, other opposition parties have been operating freely in Ukraine.
The term “pro-Russian” in Ukrainian politics is generally applied to figures linked to the country’s former Russian-aligned president, Viktor F. Yanukovych, who fled to Moscow after a street uprising in 2014. Former members of Opposition Platform for Life who were once affiliated with Mr. Yanukovych, still hold about two dozen seats in Parliament.
Political analysts say the pro-Russia politicians had seen an opening provided by the demands for an election by Moscow to destabilize Ukraine from within.
“The role of pro-Russian politicians is to introduce divisive topics into society,” said Oleh Saakyan, a political analyst at the National Platform for Resilience and Social Cohesion, an independent think tank. “They aim to create divisions between groups like veterans and nonveterans, refugees and those who stayed in Ukraine, and pit them against each other.”
Russia has proposed a three-stage plan for ending the war that would center on the holding of elections in Ukraine. Under the plan, which emerged after a high-profile meeting in Saudi Arabia this month between U.S. and Russian officials, there first would be a temporary cease-fire, followed by elections in Ukraine, and then peace talks with a newly elected president. Ukraine was due to hold a presidential election in early 2024, but the government and civil society groups have agreed that it is impossible to hold an election at a time of war.
Most Ukrainian politicians and analysts say they believe Russia is trying to stir political infighting in Ukraine to distract from the defense of the country, and that Moscow would use the time to regroup and build up forces for renewed combat.
“When elections cannot be held according to democratic standards, they become a tool in Russia’s hands to attack democracy instead of supporting it,” Mr. Saakyan said.
Alina Tropynina, the senior editor of Vox Ukraine, which monitors social media, said the pro-Russian politicians had been ramping up their posts on social media blaming Mr. Zelensky for the war, apparently in response to Moscow’s latest plan.
“It sounds as though Ukraine started the war and that its end depends solely on Ukraine, leaving out that in fact Russia invaded,” Ms. Tropynina said.
Artem Dmytruk, a pro-Russian politician in exile in London, has been accusing the Ukrainian authorities of deliberately prolonging the war, asserting that they benefit from the conflict financially and are hindering peace talks.
Mr. Dubinsky, who describes himself as Trumpist on his social media accounts, posts multiple updates daily praising Mr. Trump and questioning Mr. Zelensky’s legitimacy.
On Jan. 6, Mr. Boyko posted a video on TikTok of himself playing a famous Ukrainian Christmas tune, “Carol of the Bells,” on a piano while wishing his viewers peace.
The timing was significant — it was posted on the same day that the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas Eve, though the Ukrainian church switched in 2023 to celebrating Christmas on Dec. 25 along with most of Western Europe.
Other Ukrainian politicians who are not aligned with Russia also regularly criticize the government and say they would like to take power themselves.
Dmytro Razumkov, a politician who broke with Mr. Zelensky in 2021 and now leads an opposition faction in Parliament, said he would run for president if elections were held.
“I have always participated and always will participate in elections, in one form or another,” he said.
But those opposition politicians also say the time is not right for new elections.
“I definitely think that elections are already needed, but not during a hot war,” said Andriy Osadchuk, a member of Parliament with the opposition Holos party.
Nataliia Novosolova and Andrew E. Kramer contributed reporting.