President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has rejected calls for elections during the ongoing conflict with Russia, arguing that holding a vote while fighting continues would fracture the country and violate Ukrainian law.
President Volodymiy Zelenskiy has strongly opposed the idea of holding elections while Ukraine remains at war with Russia, describing such a move as potentially devastating to national unity. Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Zelenskiy characterised wartime elections as a "tsunami for the state" that would divide Ukrainians at a critical moment. His comments represent his first public response to former Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov's recent call for a wartime poll, marking the first such demand from a major Ukrainian political figure since Russia's full-scale invasion began in 2022.
Zelenskiy emphasized that Ukrainian law currently prohibits elections during wartime, a restriction supported by security analysts who point to practical obstacles including displaced populations, millions of Ukrainians abroad or in Russian-occupied territories, and those actively fighting on the front lines. While acknowledging that elections might theoretically be possible if international partners could guarantee security, Zelenskiy stated that no such safeguards have been proposed. His priority, he said, remains ending the conflict and preserving Ukraine's sovereignty.
Public sentiment appears to align with the president's position. An August 5 poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found that 57% of Ukrainians prefer to postpone elections until after the war concludes. Despite this, pollsters note that many Ukrainians desire fresh political leadership, even if they show limited enthusiasm for voting amid active hostilities. Zelenskiy's approval rating has remained relatively stable at approximately 60%, while Fedorov, a longtime ally previously viewed as a potential political challenger, has not indicated whether he would run in any future election.
