Anna Mysyshyn & William Dutton
For more than four years of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine has been governed under martial law and has been unable to hold national elections under its existing legal framework. As the war continues, however, the question of Ukraine’s next elections is becoming increasingly prominent, both within Ukraine and in discussions with its international partners.
This is not simply a debate about whether elections are necessary. Regular elections, political accountability and the ability of citizens to choose their representatives remain fundamental to Ukraine’s democratic future. The much more difficult question is when and under what conditions an election can be organised so that it is genuinely representative, secure, inclusive and legitimate.
The issue gained renewed political attention in the summer of 2026 following the dismissal of Mykhailo Fedorov as Ukraine’s Defence Minister. Fedorov had previously led the Ministry of Digital Transformation, becoming closely associated with Ukraine’s rapid digitalisation, before moving into defence and playing a prominent role in modernizing technologies of Ukraine’s military. His dismissal in July prompted rare wartime demonstrations, with thousands gathering in Kyiv to demand his reinstatement as Defence Minister.  Several weeks later, on 18 August 2026, Fedorov separately called for Ukraine to find a legal and secure mechanism for holding elections despite the continuing war, arguing that democratic processes should not remain suspended indefinitely. His intervention brought additional attention to a debate that already existed over Ukraine’s eventual return to regular electoral politics.
The significance of this debate extends far beyond the political future of any individual politician. Ukraine faces a much broader democratic challenge: how can a country fighting a full-scale defensive war eventually restore regular electoral competition while ensuring that those elections are representative, safe, resistant to external interference and trusted by Ukrainian society?
Under the current legal framework, Ukraine cannot hold elections while martial law remains in force. Article 19 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Legal Regime of Martial Law” (Law No. 389-VIII) expressly prohibits elections of the President of Ukraine, elections to the Verkhovna Rada, local elections, as well as national and local referendums during martial law. This is therefore not merely a political decision by the current government to postpone elections; it is a restriction established by Ukrainian law.
In February 2025, the Verkhovna Rada also adopted a resolution envisaging elections following the achievement of a comprehensive, just and sustainable peace. The European Commission has similarly treated Ukraine’s first post-war electoral cycle as requiring substantial preparation rather than simply the announcement of an election date.
Nor should the problem be understood as purely legal. Removing the prohibition on elections under martial law would not, by itself, make a credible national election possible. As long as large-scale hostilities continue, millions of citizens remain displaced, substantial territories remain occupied, members of the armed forces are deployed, and the civilian population remains exposed to missile and drone attacks. Ukraine would face profound difficulties in guaranteeing equal participation, electoral security, meaningful political competition and public confidence in this context.
These circumstances create practical democratic questions that cannot be resolved simply by announcing an election.

• How should Ukrainian citizens from occupied territories exercise their political rights?
• How can millions of Ukrainians living across Europe and elsewhere participate on a meaningful and broadly equal basis when Ukraine’s existing network of embassies and consulates was never designed to accommodate voting on this scale?
• And how can polling stations, election officials, candidates and voters be protected while Russian missiles and drones remain capable of striking virtually anywhere in Ukraine?

There is another reason why Ukraine’s elections cannot simply replicate the electoral model that existed before 2022. The information environment has changed fundamentally. Russia’s war against Ukraine is conducted not only on the battlefield. Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI), disinformation, cyber operations, coordinated networks of influence and increasingly sophisticated uses of artificial intelligence are integral elements of contemporary conflict. For Ukraine, the potential impact of these tools on an election is not theoretical. Recent elections in other countries in the region provide concrete examples of how electoral processes can be targeted without physically manipulating voters.  
Research conducted by the Institute of Innovative Governance into Russian influence, information manipulation and emerging technologies surrounding elections in Moldova and Georgia provides an opportunity to examine precisely this question: which threats are transferable to Ukraine, which are context-specific, and what institutional responses can reduce their impact?
Ukraine’s election would be an exceptionally attractive target for Russian influence operations. The choice facing Ukraine should therefore not be framed simply as “elections now” versus “no elections until the war is over”. The more important question is what Ukraine should be doing now so that credible elections become possible when the necessary conditions emerge.
Preparing for an election cannot begin on the day an election date is announced.
Ukraine and its international partners should use the current period to build the legal, institutional, technological and security foundations for the country’s next electoral cycle.
At least five areas require sustained work: the legal framework, electoral inclusion, physical and cybersecurity, information integrity, legitimacy and public trust. 
Ukraine’s next national election will take place in a political, demographic, technological and security environment fundamentally different from the one that existed before the full-scale invasion. Preparing for that reality is itself part of protecting Ukrainian democracy.
The central question is therefore not simply when Ukraine should vote again. It is what conditions must be created so that, when Ukrainians do vote, citizens across the country and abroad can participate meaningfully, the process can withstand Russian interference, the results command public confidence, and the election strengthens rather than undermines the democracy Ukrainians are fighting to defend.
 
The post Elections in Wartime Ukraine. Democracy Requires Preparations appeared first on Portulans Institute.