As Ukraine enters its fourth year of full-scale war, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s position on democratic elections has become the latest target for Kremlin spin, Western sceptics, and, most recently, the recycled talking points of Donald Trump. Yet the core issue remains unchanged.
Ukraine will hold elections when Ukrainians decide the conditions are safe, constitutional, and free from interference, and the only actor preventing that is Russia.
A wartime democracy under fire
Under Ukraine’s constitution, elections cannot be held under martial law. That clause exists for a reason. No democracy can conduct a free and fair national vote when its territory is being actively invaded, millions of citizens are internally displaced, and enemy forces continue to occupy towns, destroy critical energy infrastructure, and deport civilians.
But Kyiv has never ruled out elections. Zelensky has consistently stated that elections are possible – but not under Russian missiles, not without secure conditions across the country, and not without the logistical and financial support required to make a nationwide vote credible. That includes ballot access for soldiers on the front line, millions of displaced people, 6.5 million Ukrainians abroad, and residents living under daily shelling.
To treat these challenges as minor administrative details is to misunderstand what an election truly is. It is not a date on a calendar; it is an expression of sovereignty. Ukraine will not stage a Kremlin-shaped imitation of democracy simply so Moscow can declare the outcome illegitimate.
What would it take to hold elections?
In practical terms, several factors must be addressed before Ukraine can consider any wartime vote:
- Security of polling stations
Over 20% of Ukraine’s territory faces constant missile or drone strikes. Polling stations cannot safely operate if Russia is deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure, nor can citizens queue to vote under air-raid alerts or blackout conditions.
- Voting access for the military
Ukraine has roughly one million service personnel. Ensuring secure, secret, and universal access to the ballot for soldiers under fire requires an entirely bespoke voting system—not improvised workarounds. No credible democracy asks troops to vote in trenches.
- Representation of displaced Ukrainians
Millions of Ukrainians have been forced to relocate internally or across Europe due to Russia’s bombardments. Without a verified and updated voter registry, large-scale disenfranchisement becomes inevitable.
- Impartial international oversight
Ukraine has always welcomed observers. Russia has always feared them. A wartime election would require robust OSCE, EU, and NGO monitoring to guarantee transparency, something Moscow has consistently opposed.
These challenges are not excuses; they are the basic engineering requirements of a functioning democracy. Both the United States and the United Kingdom suspended or adapted electoral processes during major wars.
Democracies protect elections, they do not hold them for show.
Trump’s ‘why no elections?’ Talking point—straight from Moscow
Despite these realities, US President Donald Trump recently amplified a well-worn Kremlin narrative by demanding to know why Ukraine has not held elections.
This line has circulated in Moscow since early 2023 and serves two strategic purposes:
- To imply Zelensky is “unelected” or illegitimate.
- To create a future pretext for Russia to dismiss any Ukrainian government it dislikes.
The objective is not truth, it is optics. Kremlin propagandists rely on Western audiences overlooking the constitutional restrictions of martial law and the impossibility of organising a nationwide vote across a 1,200-mile active frontline.
An election conducted under bombardment is not democracy; it is theatre, and Ukraine is fighting for the real thing.
The Kremlin’s fear: Elections it cannot control
The paradox is stark. Russia insists that Ukraine must hold elections immediately to “prove” its democratic credentials, while simultaneously occupying Ukrainian territory, deporting civilians, and threatening to strike any city at any time. Moscow demands “no foreign interference,” even as its army remains dug in on Ukrainian soil.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova went further in a recent interview with the state-controlled outlet Sputnik, mocking Zelensky’s statements that Ukraine requires Western and European security guarantees to conduct a vote. An agitated Zakharova called this “a new level of cynicism”—a remarkable accusation from a representative of a country currently bombing the very population she claims should be voting.
This is not a good-faith position. It is a provocation designed to create chaos.
What the Kremlin truly fears is a legitimate Ukrainian election held under conditions it cannot manipulate. When Zelensky won overwhelmingly in 2019, Moscow had no mechanism to distort the outcome. Its nightmare scenario is that Ukrainians vote again—freely—and reaffirm, as they have on every battlefield since February 2022, that they do not want to be part of Russia.
Russia’s political influence in Ukraine historically relied on two levers: coercion and disinformation. Both vanish once a secure ballot exists. That is why Moscow works tirelessly to destabilise the conversation around Ukrainian elections, question Zelensky’s legitimacy, and accuse the West of “interference”, all while Russian soldiers occupy Ukrainian towns.
A future election will be Ukraine’s, not Russia’s
Zelensky’s latest statements simply place responsibility back where it belongs: on Moscow. If Russia stopped bombing cities, withdrew its forces, and ended its occupation, Ukraine could hold elections tomorrow. It really is that simple. There would be no constitutional barriers, no security crisis, and no extraordinary logistical hurdles.
Until that happens, Ukraine’s position remains the only one consistent with democratic principles: elections will take place when Ukrainians—not Russian generals, not Kremlin propagandists, and certainly not foreign politicians echoing Moscow’s narratives—decide the country is safe enough.
What is truly at stake is not Zelensky’s popularity or the technical mechanics of a vote. It is Ukraine’s sovereign right to conduct democratic processes free from invasion, coercion, and ultimatums disguised as “peace plans,” particularly those constructed with Russian and US political interests in mind that offer neither real security guarantees nor meaningful European input.
The Kremlin understands this perfectly. That is why it demands elections Ukraine cannot safely hold, and fears the elections Ukraine eventually will.
Leave a Comment