The 'tsunami' Zelenskyy doesn't want Ukraine to face

More than four years after Russia launched the full-scale invasion that has devastated Ukraine and claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is facing a new political challenge: whether to hold elections during wartime.

The issue emerged last week after former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov , who was recently dismissed from his role, called for Zelenskyy to find a way to hold elections while fighting was ongoing.

The move was seen as the biggest challenge to Zelenskyy's leadership since the invasion began in February 2022, with Zelenskyy rebuffing calls for a wartime election.

"Elections right now are a tsunami for the state, which will split Ukraine," he said on Sunday, local time.

"That's why my strategy is to steer the country toward an ending of the war and to preserve an independent and sovereign state."

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National elections have been suspended since the invasion began and polling shows most Ukrainians support delaying a vote until the fighting ends.

Zelenskyy won Ukraine's 2019 presidential election in a landslide and would have ordinarily served a five-year term.

After Russia launched its full-scale invasion, Ukraine introduced martial law, which suspends some civil liberties, including national elections.

Zelenskyy's presidential term expired in 2024, but he remained in office as Ukraine's constitutional and legal system provides for continuity of government during martial law. The country's parliament has also continued operating.

Fighting continues along a front line stretching more than 1,200km, while Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv, remain under regular bombardment from Russian drones and missiles.

An election would potentially require millions of Ukrainians to travel to polling stations, creating security risks and raising concerns about how voting could be conducted safely.

Political parties would also need to campaign while the country remained under attack, while authorities would have to find a way for hundreds of thousands of soldiers serving on the front line to vote.

As of the end of June, more than 4.4 million Ukrainians had temporary protection status in the European Union, meaning Ukraine would have to organise hundreds of polling stations across Europe.