Wartime election would 'destroy' Ukraine, Zelenskiy says

Holding a wartime election in Ukraine while active fighting with Russia continues would "destroy" the country by splitting ​Ukrainians, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.

His comments, released to reporters on Sunday, ‌were Zelenskiy'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," Zelenskiy 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.

ELECTIONS WOULD SPLIT UKRAINE, PRESIDENT SAYS

Zelenskiy'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, Zelenskiy 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 longtime Zelenskiy ally who ​has been seen as a top political challenger, did not explicitly say whether he would stand ​in any future election.

-Reuters