The White House has started talking about the need to hold elections in Ukraine, possibly by the end of the year, amid efforts to reach an agreement to end the war unleashed by Russia. 

This was reported on Sunday by the American news agency Reuters, citing informed sources.

U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg said that most democratic countries hold elections during wartime.

At the same time, international documents regulating elections exclude the possibility of holding them in times of war. This was stated by Dementiy Bilyi, head of the Kherson regional organization of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine (a member of the RPR Coalition), in a commentary to Ukrinform.

“Our situation, firstly, differs from those cases when elections were held during the war. There are many examples of countries postponing elections during the war. And most importantly, all of these cases relate to old stories, including the First and Second World Wars,” Bilyi said.

He reminded that after the creation of the UN, the Council of Europe, and the OSCE, a number of international documents were adopted that regulate elections, and they exclude the possibility of holding them in times of war, because then standards and human rights and freedoms will not be respected.

The expert also noted that in the UK during World War II, even before the adoption of international regulations, elections were postponed. According to Bilyi, elections in Ukraine can be organized only when the fighting stops and martial law is lifted.