Yana Rudenko in Kyiv

Co-Founder & Head of Communications & Fundraising at DroneAid Collective

Feb 20, 2025

But today I fully support him as the President of Ukraine, my country during the largest 𝐰𝐚𝐫 in Europe since WWII.

❤️ Hello from Kyiv wherre I came straight from Munich.

I am against elections in Ukraine and here are my 6 reasons:

1️⃣ – Elections are not possible in Ukraine during wartime, as they are forbidden by the Ukrainian Constitution

2️⃣ – Who will vote?
➢ More than a million Ukrainian citizens are serving in the Armed Forces, with many on the frontlines, stationed at military bases, undergoing training, or working in essential production.
➢ More than 7 million Ukrainians are under temporary protection abroad, and up to 4 million are internally displaced.
➢ Thousands more remain under occupation—how are they supposed to vote?

What is the legitimacy of these elections if large segments of the population are unable to participate? The results would not reflect the true will of the people.

We don’t even have accurate data on casualties from russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

💔 Take Mariupol as an example—a city of half a million people before the full-scale invasion. Where are all those people now?

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(Read 4 additional reasons below)
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Why does Ukraine need to hold elections, compensate the USA, promise moscow to have no NATO membership?

Yet no one talks about reparations for the Ukrainian people—for destroyed homes, lost relatives. What about justice? What about accountability?

The additional three reasons:

2️⃣ – Who will pay for the elections?
Organizing the presidential election in 2024 would cost 5.4 mln UAH, while the parliamentary election would require 3.7 mln UAH. How many drones could we buy with that money?
Ukraine doesn’t have extra funds in its budget.

3️⃣ – Offline and online safety of elections
With Ukraine facing 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐛𝐲 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐧-𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐊𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬, how can we ensure the safety of voters during offline elections, which typically take place in schools and universities? 

4️⃣ – Human constraints
Organizing elections requires the involvement of thousands of people. It’s unrealistic to expect everyone to take a day off from the war to participate in elections. Maybe we need to win first?

5️⃣ – Risk of manipulation
We’ve all seen how russia interferes in elections in Moldova, Georgia, and even the U.S. The scale of interference during elections in Ukraine would be unimaginable

Comment from :

Seyfi Tomar

Ukraine’s presidential legitimacy is not in question—only Ukrainians decide their leader, not foreign powers. The real issue is Putin’s illegitimacy—a dictator waging war to erase Ukraine’s sovereignty.
Yet, instead of supporting Ukraine’s right to self-determination, Trump openly promotes a colonial mindset, suggesting the U.S. should seize Ukraine’s mineral wealth like an empire from centuries past. This is not just outdated thinking—it’s a direct threat to global stability.
The world must urgently unite—Europe, Canada, and all democratic nations—to reject this modern-day colonization. Ukraine is not a prize to be looted—it is a free and sovereign nation fighting for its future. History will judge those who stand by and allow imperial ambitions to rise again.

Norbert Zeitmann

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/07/trump-putin-russia-collusion.html

Nadiia Dorosh

I couldn’t agree with you more!
Trump’s speeches are ridiculous, and there’s no difference between russian narratives. Elections now mean only destabilization within Ukraine. When it comes to legitimacy, we can also compare elections in Russia in march last year, how they were organised (as well on the occupied territories), and how the voting was (under the pressure, as usually). Only Ukrainians are supposed to decide when the elections will be held.

Herman Evans

Trump & Putin only want these elections so they can manipulate and influence (as they have done in their own countries) to have a pro-Russian president in Ukraine… Trump has clearly indicated that no more elections would be needed in the US so he can just stay in place for a long time just as his buddy Putin…