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Ukraine has no money to hold elections — Zelensky's office

According to Mikhail Podolyak, Ukraine’s budget has other priority expenditures, including militarization

MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS/. Ukraine will be unable to finance elections on its own and will require funding from other countries, Mikhail Podolyak, an adviser to Vladimir Zelensky’s office, said.

"We are not supposed to finance this. Objectively, we cannot afford it because we have a budget deficit," Podolyak said in an interview with the Novosti Live YouTube channel.

According to him, Ukraine’s budget has other priority expenditures, including militarization.

Zelensky’s presidential powers officially expired on May 20, 2024, but Kiev did not hold regular elections, arguing that this was impossible due to the country still being under martial law.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump said the time was right for elections in Ukraine. Zelensky later asked the US and Europe to ensure the security of the vote.

On December 19, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the Results of the Year program that Russia was ready to consider stopping strikes deep inside Ukraine on voting day if elections took place there. He also noted that between five million and ten million Ukrainians living in Russia should have the right to vote in Ukrainian elections.

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Niger bans issuing visas to US citizens — agency

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Almost 5,000 civilians killed in Donbass since April 2014 — Prosecutor General’s office

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Bundestag believes German army has opportunity to ensure peace in Ukraine

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