President Volodymyr Zelensky said in remarks made public Sunday that it would be too dangerous for Ukraine to hold an election while it fights Russia, after a call by his former defence minister to organise a vote.<\/p>\n
Ukraine has suspended elections under martial law, a measure still widely supported by the population as the country focuses on fighting off the Russian invasion launched in 2022.<\/p>\n
The Ukrainian leader — a former TV comedian elected in 2019 — has previously faced calls both from Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump to stage a vote, even as Moscow rains down missiles and drones across the country on a daily basis.<\/p>\n
“I believe that in a war like this, elections as such are a huge risk. Elections right now are a tsunami for the country that will split Ukraine,” Zelensky said.<\/p>\n
“If we want to destroy the country, then we can move in the direction of elections during these times of war,” added the 48-year-old.<\/p>\n
He made the comments Saturday in a briefing with journalists including AFP.<\/p>\n
Kyiv has been engulfed in a political crisis over the summer, triggered when Zelensky fired popular defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov.<\/p>\n
Thousands took to the streets to demand his reinstatement, while Fedorov issued blistering attacks against the army’s top brass.<\/p>\n
The row forced Zelensky to sack his commander-in-chief.<\/p>\n
Then days ago, the ousted Fedorov made a surprise call to find a way to organise elections.<\/p>\n
He did not state explicitly that he wanted to challenge Zelensky, but the shock move made even some of his supporters distance themselves.<\/p>\n
Experts have cited a flurry of obstacles to staging elections.<\/p>\n
They include how soldiers, millions of Ukrainian refugees and people from occupied territories would cast their ballots, as well as the threat of both interference and physical attacks from Russia.<\/p>\n
– Missile deficit –<\/p>\n
Only 15 percent of Ukrainians believe elections should be held before the end of hostilities, according to an opinion poll.<\/p>\n
Zelensky, while having faced increasing pockets of criticism domestically as the war drags on, is still largely popular.<\/p>\n
Zelensky hit out at his potential rival with numerous jabs during the briefing.<\/p>\n
“I believe he is going himself — or is being pushed — toward wrong things,” Zelensky said of Fedorov.<\/p>\n
The former minister was a prominent backer of the drone warfare strategy that has come to dominate Ukraine’s war with Russia, and had pushed for army reforms — winning support among the public.<\/p>\n
But openly calling for an election is a risky bet and could have knocked his standing.<\/p>\n
Fedorov’s team confirmed to AFP on Sunday he plans to visit the United States soon — a trip likely to revive speculation about whether he is positioning himself as a rival to Zelensky.<\/p>\n
The domestic row comes amid an escalation in the war.<\/p>\n
Moscow has intensified its strikes, using hard-to-intercept ballistic missiles that expose Ukraine’s air defence shortfall.<\/p>\n
Ukraine, meanwhile, has accelerated its own campaign of long-range strikes on Russian energy and logistics sites — including oil refineries and retail warehouses.<\/p>\n
Zelensky said deliveries of crucial interceptor missiles for US Patriot air defence systems — which can shoot down Russia’s ballistic missiles — had halved since 2023.<\/p>\n
“Over the entire of 2023, Ukraine received 675 missiles, and over all of 2025 — 364, even though Russian missile strikes have increased,” Zelensky said.<\/p>\n
“For 2026, as currently projected, it is 264,” he added, saying Ukraine was seeking a package of 300 for the upcoming winter.<\/p>\n
The United States faces its own shortfall of the missiles amid its war on Iran and has been resistant to release large numbers to Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Zelensky said Russia could produce around 100 ballistic missiles a month.<\/p>\n
Civilian deaths in the four-and-a-half-year-long war have surged to their highest since the first months of the invasion amid the uptick in Russian strikes, according to verified statistics from the United Nations.<\/p>\n
Ukraine will on Monday host a meeting of its European allies to discuss how to pressure Russia to end its invasion.<\/p>\n
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