Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected calls for an election during the country’s more than four-year war with Russia, describing a vote under current conditions as a “huge risk” that could split Ukraine.
The demand was made publicly earlier this week by former Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who argued that Ukraine’s democracy should not be held hostage by Russia. Ukrainian law currently bans elections during wartime.
Why the election dispute emerged
Fedorov, 35, served as defence minister for six months before Zelenskyy dismissed him in July, a move that prompted protests across the country. On Tuesday, Fedorov published a nine-minute video saying Russia should not determine when Ukrainians next elect their authorities and warning of a “systemic crisis of governance”.
Zelenskyy rejected the proposal during a briefing with reporters on Saturday. In comments published on Sunday, he said elections during the war would be a “tsunami for the country” and added that moving in that direction could destroy Ukraine.
Related coverage: Ukraine election debate grows as Zelenskyy cites wartime risks.
The practical barriers to a wartime vote
The election ban had gone unchallenged until Fedorov’s public demand. Experts cited in the source material said a wartime election would be practically impossible because of logistical and safety challenges, a view that most Ukrainians agree with.
The dispute is unfolding while Zelenskyy’s government seeks to limit Russian air attacks. Overnight strikes in the eastern Donetsk region killed two people and wounded two, while at least 141 private homes were damaged, according to Ukraine’s emergency services. A drone attack in Kharkiv wounded eight people, including a child, and burned at least two residential buildings.
Air defence and funding pressures
Zelenskyy said Ukraine is concentrating on Russian ballistic-missile launchers because Patriot systems are effectively the only weapons available to destroy those missiles. He said Ukraine received 264 Patriot missiles in 2026, compared with 364 in 2025 and 675 in 2023, and is seeking to produce the missiles domestically with United States political backing.
He also said Ukraine faces a $27bn defence funding gap this year. Kyiv needs at least $8bn for a normal start to 2027, in addition to about $20bn for other spending, including military salaries and payments to families of people killed in the war.
Ukraine has agreed with France to receive at least one SAMP/T air-defence system this year and with Germany to receive about 600 PAC-2 and PAC-3 interceptors through 2028. Norway said it would provide 85 billion crowns, or $9.2bn, to Ukraine for the 2027 fiscal year, matching its 2026 contribution.
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