Zelensky warns wartime election could ‘destroy’ Ukraine by splitting country

By Max Hunder and Dan Peleschuk

Kyiv — Holding a wartime election in Ukraine while active fighting with Russia continues would “destroy” the country by splitting Ukrainians, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

His comments, released to reporters on Sunday, were Zelensky’s first on the subject since ousted former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov called for a wartime poll in a bombshell address last week.

Fedorov’s surprise dismissal last month sparked widespread protests, but supporters calling for his reinstatement later baulked at his call for an election — the first such demand by a major Ukrainian political figure since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.

“I believe that if we want to destroy the country, then we can move towards elections during this kind of war,” Zelensky said.

Elections in war are prohibited by Ukrainian law. Analysts also say security concerns and the millions of Ukrainians abroad, under Russian occupation or fighting at the front, mean it would be too difficult to hold an election.

Fresh faces

Zelensky’s approval rating has remained generally stable at about 60%, but pollsters have said that while Ukrainians want fresh faces in politics, many have little appetite for voting now.

An August 5 poll by the ​Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found that 57% of Ukrainians want elections only after fighting ends.

Echoing his previous comments on the matter, Zelensky said a wartime election might be possible if Kyiv’s partners could guarantee security, but that no one has proposed such a plan.

“Elections right now are a tsunami for the state, which will split Ukraine,” he said.

“That’s why my strategy is to steer the country toward an ending of the war and to preserve an independent and sovereign state.”

Fedorov, a long-time Zelensky ally who has been seen as a top political challenger, did not explicitly say whether he would stand in any future election.