Zelenskyy warns wartime elections would 'destroy' Ukraine, rebuffing former defence minister's vote call

President Zelenskyy warned on August 23 that wartime elections would unleash a "tsunami" capable of "destroying" Ukraine, rebuffing former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov's August 18 call for a presidential vote under martial law — the first major internal challenge to Zelenskyy's wartime leadership. Fedorov, fired in July, cited corruption and a "systemic crisis of governance." Ukrainian law bans elections during wartime; experts call voting under bombardment near-impossible.