The Kremlin said that there are different views within the Ukrainian leadership on holding elections during wartime. The comment was made in response to the call of recently dismissed Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov for holding wartime elections, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the “Kiev regime“ does not represent a unified bloc and that there are different positions on the issue of elections.
Last week, Fedorov called for elections to be held in Ukraine despite the ongoing war. According to Reuters, this is one of the most serious domestic political challenges facing President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Peskov recalled that Russian President Vladimir Putin has already expressed his position on the possibility of holding elections in Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly claimed that the Ukrainian authorities have lost legitimacy after Zelensky's presidential term expired and new elections were not held.
Kiev rejects these claims and has repeatedly explained that elections cannot be organized under the current martial law.
Presidential and parliamentary elections have not been held in Ukraine since the start of a full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022. The authorities in Kiev point to the ongoing war, restrictions related to martial law, as well as the need to guarantee the security and right to participation of millions of Ukrainians as the main reasons.
However, Fedorov's appeal shows that the question of the future of the Ukrainian political process continues to provoke debate within the country while the war with Russia continues.