Head of Zelenskyy's office says elections during war pose serious threat

Kyrylo Budanov, Head of the President's Office, has said the current political situation in Ukraine amounts to tension but not yet a crisis. He urged Ukrainians to avoid internal division and said elections should be postponed until after the war.

Source: Budanov in an interview broadcast on 28 August on the national joint 24/7 newscast

Quote: "Elections during war, apart from technical problems, carry a serious threat… Elections during war call their results into question to some extent. Because not everyone can vote normally. Questions start being asked: some people voted, others could not, how many were unable to vote, and so on.

And in a society that is not entirely united, this creates grounds for, say, one particular oblast simply to say: 'Sorry, we are for Ukraine, but we do not recognise all this, and until everything is sorted out, we will remain autonomous.' This is a path towards the state breaking apart."

Details: Budanov recalled the events of 1918, when Ukrainians "lost their state in an instant".

Budanov said he views current events in Ukraine as "tension" rather than a "crisis".

He urged all sides in the confrontation to "calm down a little and look at the situation in Ukraine more broadly", adding that there is always a way out.

Budanov said the war should be ended first, and only then should the process of political renewal be launched.

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