KYIV: President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has said the time is not right for Kyiv to go for elections in 2024, Western media reported on Monday.
All elections including the presidential one, which are set to take place next year, are technically cancelled under the martial law since the war started last year.
Zelensky in his daily address said that now it is the time of defense, the time of war, on which the fate of the state and people relies.
He said it is a time for Ukraine to be united and not divided adding that now it is not the right time for elections.
Last week Ukraine’s foreign minister said that Zelensky was assessing whether it would be appropriate to hold the elections next year amid war with Russia.
He warned that polling would be almost impossible to be held because of the large number of Ukrainians abroad and soldiers fighting on the front lines.
Parliamentary elections also cancelled due to war
Parliamentary elections in Ukraine were also cancelled last month due to the war.
Zelensky, who became president in 2019, said in September he was ready to hold elections if it was inevitable.
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Former presidential aide Oleksiy Arestovych last week said he would run against his former boss, after condemning Zelensky over the slow pace of Ukraine’s counteroffensive.
Zelensky on Monday said that Ukrainian forces had destroyed a major Russian ship in the Kerch shipyard in annexed Crimea region.
The Ukrainian president regularly holds meeting with Western leaders aiming to secure more military aid.
