Wartime elections would 'split' Ukraine, warns Zelensky
· RTE.ieUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has cautioned that wartime elections would currently be too dangerous for Ukraine, after a call by his former defence minister to organise a vote.
"I believe that in a war like this, elections as such are a huge risk. Elections right now are a tsunami for the country that will split Ukraine," Mr Zelensky said in remarks made public today.
On Wednesday, ousted defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov called for wartime elections, arguing that Ukraine faced a crisis of governance, in the biggest internal challenge to Mr Zelensky since Russia's invasion in 2022.
Ukrainian law prohibits holding elections during wartime.
"Democracy cannot be held hostage by Russia," Mr Fedorov said in a video address posted on YouTube.
"We must find a legal, safe and realistic mechanism that will allow Ukraine to renew its full democratic process even in the conditions of a long war."
Meanwhile, Mr Zelensky also said that Ukraine believes Russia is planning to mobilise an additional 300,000 troops for its war effort after parliamentary elections in September.
In his comments to reporters he added that Russia could draft hundreds of thousands more in 2027 for its key goal of capturing the rest of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region.
Russia ramping up missile output, Zelensky says
The Ukrainian president also confirmed that Russia has been bolstering its battlefield offensive with an escalating air war on Ukrainian cities, while defence systems are hampered by a critical shortage of US-designed Patriot interceptors.
Mr Zelensky said the 264 interceptors Ukraine is expecting to have received in 2026 represent a significant drop from 2025, when Ukraine received 364, and 2023, when it received 675.
He added that Russia was aiming to develop a capacity to produce up to 1,300 ballistic missiles per year.
Over the summer, Ukraine has escalated a campaign of drone strikes targeting Russian economic infrastructure, including oil refineries and online retailers' warehouses, seeking to destroy infrastructure it says is central to Russia's war effort.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Kyiv of opening "Pandora's box" by striking economic targets, saying Russia would hit back at Ukraine's "most sensitive economic sectors".
Mr Zelensky said Ukraine was facing another difficult winter of Russian strikes on its energy grid, a prospect that had prompted Kyiv's air force to ask for 360 missile interceptors for the season.
He also said he had reached an agreement with France on at least one SAMP/T air-defence system this year, and with Germany on the supply of about 600 PAC-2 and PAC-3 interceptors through 2028.
Ukraine's war effort is further complicated by a $27 billion (€23bn) defence funding gap this year, Mr Zelensky said, a result of higher-than-expected spending in the first half of the year.
At least $8bn (€6.85) is needed for "a normal start" to 2027, plus about $20bn (€17bn) more for military salaries, payments to families of the dead, as well as other financing, he added.
Norway pledges more funding
Norway plans to give another 85bn Norwegian crowns (€7.7bn) in financial support to Ukraine in the 2027 fiscal year, in line with the amount given in 2026, the Nordic country's government has said in a statement.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere and leaders from across the Nordic and Baltic region are visiting Kyiv today in a show of solidarity.
Norway's donation will be for both military and humanitarian spending, Mr Stoere was quoted as saying in the text of a speech released by the government in Oslo.
"Supporting and rebuilding Ukraine is not assistance alone. It is an investment in Europe's own security," he said.