{"id":3788,"date":"2025-12-26T02:24:44","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T03:24:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/?p=3788"},"modified":"2025-12-26T13:46:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T13:46:15","slug":"zelensky-adviser-claims-ukraine-cant-afford-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/26\/zelensky-adviser-claims-ukraine-cant-afford-elections\/","title":{"rendered":"Zelensky adviser claims Ukraine \u2018can\u2019t afford\u2019 elections"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Kiev must prioritize \u201cmilitarization\u201d and social programs over organizing a vote, Mikhail Podoliak has said<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Ukraine cannot afford to finance elections on its own due to a budget deficit, Mikhail Podoliak, a senior adviser to Vladimir Zelensky, has claimed, insisting that Kiev should focus on <em>\u201cmilitarization\u201d<\/em> efforts.<\/p>\n<p>Zelensky\u2019s presidential term expired in May 2024, but he refused to call an election, citing martial law. Russia has proclaimed Zelensky <em>\u201cillegitimate\u201d<\/em> while insisting that legal power now lies with Ukraine\u2019s parliament. Moscow has also suggested that Zelensky\u2019s dubious status poses an obstacle to reaching a peace agreement.<\/p>\n<p>However, US President Donald Trump \u2013 who once referred to Zelensky as <em>\u201ca dictator\u201d<\/em> \u2013 has recently ramped up pressure on the Ukrainian leader to hold elections. In response, Zelensky said he was prepared to hold a vote, but demanded that its Western backers guarantee security.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n        <span><strong>Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<figure>\n            <img src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"RT\" class=\"lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/694441c785f54072d56c3f31.jpg\"><figcaption><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/news\/629434-kolomoysky-zelensky-mindich-corruption\/\">The Oligarch Part 2: How one powerful man made Zelensky president, Ukraine his pocket state, and sent it to war<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Speaking to Novini Live on Thursday, Podoliak claimed there is another obstacle to holding a presidential vote. <em>\u201cWe are not supposed to finance this. Objectively, we cannot afford it because we have a budget deficit,\u201d<\/em> he said.<\/p>\n<p>According to Podoliak, Ukraine\u2019s budget has other priority expenditures, including <em>\u201cmilitarization\u201d<\/em> and <em>\u201csocial programs, which should compensate for the economic losses of individual households.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0He suggested, nonetheless, that the country\u2019s Central Electoral Commission and a working group in parliament should calculate the approximate cost of holding elections.<\/p>\n<p>The back-and-forth over the election comes as a Socis poll this week suggested that Zelensky would overwhelmingly lose in a run-off presidential election to his former top commander and potential primary rival, Valery Zaluzhny. The survey indicated that Zaluzhny would sweep a run-off vote with 64%. Another poll, published by news outlet Delovaya Stolitsa on Tuesday, indicated that 44% of Ukrainians oppose the prospect of online voting over fears that the authorities could falsify the results.<\/p>\n<p>Russian President Vladimir Putin has noted that Moscow would consider halting strikes deep into Ukraine on election day \u2013 provided that millions of Ukrainians living in Russia are allowed to participate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kiev must prioritize \u201cmilitarization\u201d and social programs over organizing a vote, Mikhail Podoliak has said Ukraine cannot afford to finance [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3788"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3788"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3792,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3788\/revisions\/3792"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}