Zelensky says Ukraine will not hold elections until security guarantees in place

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - KYIV — President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Ukraine will only hold elections once it has security guarantees and a ceasefire in place, dismissing reports that he is planning to announce elections on the anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of his country on February 24.

"We will move to elections when all the relevant security guarantees are in place. I have always said that the issue of elections is raised by various partners. Ukraine itself has never raised it," Zelensky said in a WhatsApp chat with journalists on Wednesday.

"But of course we are ready for elections. I said it is very simple to do. Make a ceasefire, there will be elections...First comes security, then politics."

Under Ukraine's constitution, holding national elections while the country is under martial law is illegal.

Martial law was declared across the country on 24 February 2022, the day Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

Russian forces are also occupying parts of Ukrainian territory, making voting impossible.

The Financial Times reported that Ukraine was mulling the possibility of holding a presidential election within the next three months, after coming under pressure from Washington.

Zelensky has repeatedly said Ukraine can hold elections after a peace deal with Russia is signed, but has recently signaled willingness for a speedy vote as part of a US plan to end the war.

He has also said any deal that involves ceding territory to Moscow should be put to a referendum.

Zelensky, a former comedian who played a fictionalized president on Ukrainian TV before running for office, was elected in 2019 for a five-year term.

Russia has repeatedly questioned Zelensky's legitimacy post-2024, when that term would have expired.

US President Donald Trump said in December that Ukraine "is on the point of where it's not a democracy anymore" and repeated his criticism of Zelensky, arguing that his government is using the war to avoid elections.

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Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly said they support a new ballot, which would test the popularity of Zelensky and his management of the war effort and peace talks, but point to the logistical complications of doing so while the country is being attacked daily by missiles and drones while soldiers with a right to vote remain deployed on the frontline.

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine escalated sharply early Thursday as both sides launched significant aerial assaults, targeting critical infrastructure and residential areas.

The Ukrainian capital came under a “massive” attack from Russian missiles, officials said, while Russian authorities ordered the evacuation of a village in the Volgograd region following a drone strike on a military facility.

"A mass attack on the capital is still underway," Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced on Telegram early Thursday. He reported hits on both residential and non-residential buildings on both sides of the Dnipro River, which bisects the city.

Russia said Thursday that it repelled a missile attack in Volgograd region but that debris ignited a fire at a military facility and prompted the evacuation of a nearby village.

While there were no were no casualties, he said evacuation orders were being carried out in the nearby village of Kotluban “to ensure civilian safety from the threat of detonation during firefighting.”

In Russia’s Tambov region, Governor Evgeny Pervyshov said college students had to be relocated after a Ukrainian drone strike started a fire.

“The fire has now been extinguished. There were no injuries,” he said. — Agencies