Zelenskyy: Wartime elections impossible under current conditions

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that holding elections is impossible under the country’s current conditions, according to Ukrinform news agency. “Elections now would be a tsunami for our country and would divide Ukraine. Therefore, my strategy is to bring the country to the end of the war and preserve an independent and sovereign state,” Zelenskyy told reporters. Ukraine would be willing to discuss the possibility of holding elections only if its partners provided concrete guarantees that voting could be conducted safely, lawfully and democratically, without attacks or gunfire, Zelenskyy said. Former Ukrainian defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov recently said Ukraine must find a lawful and safe way to hold elections even during the ongoing conflict. Ukraine’s presidential election was originally scheduled for 2024 but was postponed due to the imposition of martial law in the country, which has been in effect since the escalation of the Ukraine crisis.