Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected the idea of holding elections during the war with Russia, four days after the former defense minister publicly called for them.
“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,” Zelenskyy said in remarks made public Sunday.
Ukraine’s former defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who was fired last month, posted a video Tuesday where he called for the country to be given a chance to go to the polls.
In the video, Fedorov said “democracy cannot be held hostage by Russia,” and called for a “legal, safe and realistic mechanism that will allow Ukraine to restore a full democratic process even amidst a prolonged war.”
“We are fighting precisely because we want to remain a free European state,” he added.
The move was widely seen as the largest challenge to
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