Zelensky shrugs off calls for wartime election, warns of 'tsunami' that would split Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday shrugged off demands that elections be held during wartime.

Speaking at a press briefing, Zelensky said elections under current wartime conditions "could create enormous risks," warning that holding a vote immediately "would be a tsunami that splits Ukraine," according to AFP.

"If we want to destroy the country, we could go in the direction of holding wartime elections," he said.

The remarks were a public rebuke of a call for wartime elections made Tuesday by former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov.

In a YouTube video, Fedorov said "democracy must not be held hostage by Russia," adding that Ukraine should find "a legitimate, safe and realistic way" to resume full democratic procedures even amid a prolonged war.

Fedorov had led Ukraine's successful drone-centered warfare strategy before his sudden dismissal last month, which sparked a fierce public backlash against Zelensky.

The question of elections has become a direct challenge to Zelensky's legitimacy.

Zelensky won the presidential election in May 2019 and was due to complete his five-year term in May 2024, but has remained in office without holding an election, citing the martial law imposed after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

A survey by the Ukrainian Center for Social Research Socis, released earlier this month, showed Valerii Zaluzhnyi — Ukraine's ambassador to the United Kingdom and a political rival of Zelensky — ranking first in public trust, with Fedorov in second place. Zelensky ranked sixth.

At the briefing, Zelensky also expressed frustration with Fedorov, saying he "is either going in the wrong direction on his own or is being pushed by someone."

On the large-scale protests that erupted against Fedorov's dismissal, Zelensky called the demonstrations "disrespectful" to soldiers, asking, "Since when has marketing become more important than those who lay down their lives?"

"Society and the military must not be divided," Zelensky added. "There is a risk of moving toward such a dangerous development."