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Ukraine Hasn’t Held Elections since Russia’s Full-scale Invasion. Here’s Why

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to press before his meeting with President of Cyprus in Kyiv on December 4, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Genya SAVILOV / AFP)
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to press before his meeting with President of Cyprus in Kyiv on December 4, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Genya SAVILOV / AFP)
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Ukraine Hasn’t Held Elections since Russia’s Full-scale Invasion. Here’s Why

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to press before his meeting with President of Cyprus in Kyiv on December 4, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Genya SAVILOV / AFP)
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to press before his meeting with President of Cyprus in Kyiv on December 4, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Genya SAVILOV / AFP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected suggestions that he is using the war as an excuse to cling to power, saying he is ready to hold elections if the US and other allies will help ensure the security of the poll and if the country's electoral law can be altered.

Zelenskyy’s five-year term was scheduled to end in May 2024, but elections were legally put off due to Russia’s full-scale invasion. That has become a source of tension with US President Donald Trump, who has criticized the delay as he pushes Zelenskyy to accept his proposals for ending the war.

Zelenskyy responded to that criticism on Tuesday, saying he was ready for elections.

“Moreover, I am now asking — and I am stating this openly — for the United States, possibly together with our European colleagues, to help me ensure security for holding elections,” he told reporters on WhatsApp. “And then, within the next 60–90 days, Ukraine will be ready to hold them.”

Until now, Zelenskyy has declined to hold an election until a ceasefire is declared, in line with Ukrainian law that prevents a poll from being held when martial law is in effect. Ukrainians largely support that decision.

Here is a look at why Ukraine has not been able to hold elections so far:

A wartime election would be illegal

Ukraine has been under martial law since February 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion. The country’s constitution provides for martial law in wartime, and a separate law bars the holding of elections while it remains in force.

Beyond being illegal, any nationwide vote would pose serious security risks as Russia bombs Ukrainian cities with missiles and drones. With roughly one-fifth of the country under Russian occupation and millions of Ukrainians displaced abroad, organizing a nationwide ballot is also widely seen as logistically impossible.

It would also be difficult to find a way for Ukrainian soldiers on the front line to cast their votes, The Associated Press said.

Although Zelenskyy’s term formally expired in May 2024, Ukraine's constitution allows him to legitimately remain in office until a newly elected president is sworn in.

What Trump said

In an interview with Politico published on Tuesday, Trump said it was time for Ukraine to hold elections.

“They’re using war not to hold an election, but, uh, I would think the Ukrainian people ... should have that choice. And maybe Zelenskyy would win. I don’t know who would win.

“But they haven’t had an election in a long time. You know, they talk about a democracy, but it gets to a point where it’s not a democracy anymore.”

Trump's comments on elections echo Moscow's stance. The Kremlin has used Zelenskyy’s remaining in power after his expired term as a tool to cast him as an illegitimate leader.

What Zelenskyy said Zelenskyy reiterated previous statements that the decision about when to hold elections was one for the Ukrainian people, not its international allies.

The first question, he said, is whether an election could be held securely while Ukraine is under attack from Russia. But in the event that the US and other allies can guarantee the security of the poll, Zelenskyy said he is asking lawmakers to propose legal changes that would allow elections to be held under martial law.

“I’ve heard it suggested that we’re clinging to power, or that I’m personally holding on to the president’s seat, that I’m clinging to it, and that this is supposedly why the war is not ending. This, frankly, is a completely absurd story.”

Zelenskyy has few political rivals

Holding elections in the middle of a war would also sow division in Ukrainian society at a time when the country should be united against Russia, Zelenskyy has said.

One potential candidate who could challenge Zelenskyy in an election is former army chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the current Ukrainian ambassador to Britain. Zaluzhnyi has denied plans to enter politics, though public opinion surveys show him as a potential Zelenskyy rival.

Petro Poroshenko also is a key political rival of Zelenskyy’s and the leader of the largest opposition party. He is unlikely to run again, analysts said, but his backing of a particular candidate would be consequential.

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In the Israeli-Occupied West Bank, Too Much Cash Is Breaking the Economy

A customer counts Israeli shekels at a currency exchange bureau in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (AP)
A customer counts Israeli shekels at a currency exchange bureau in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (AP)
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In the Israeli-Occupied West Bank, Too Much Cash Is Breaking the Economy

A customer counts Israeli shekels at a currency exchange bureau in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (AP)
A customer counts Israeli shekels at a currency exchange bureau in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (AP)

Picture this: A gas station customer pulls out a wad of bills to pay for a fill-up. The cashier refuses the money, explaining that the station's bank has stopped accepting notes and coins as deposits because it already is drowning in cash.

In most places, cash is king. But in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, having too much is gumming up the machinery of daily life. The Palestinian banking system has more Israeli shekels than it can manage. As a result, paper money has gotten harder for residents to spend and for businesses to put into their accounts.

The excess liquidity stems from a conflict between the Bank of Israel and the Palestinian Monetary Authority, which oversees Palestinian banks and financial institutions. Israel limits the amount of physical currency it takes back from the West Bank. Palestinian officials say the cap has not kept pace with growth and is one mechanism used to keep the territory in a state of economic crisis.

Unlike in Gaza, where years of an almost total blockade have caused cash shortages, banks in the West Bank are running out of vault space to store stacks of shekels. With Bank of Israel refusing to accept more notes and coins, commercial banks can’t convert the money into electronic balances to pay suppliers or process transfers on behalf of their customers.

“The banks have been shackled” in their ability to deal with the crisis, Mohammad Manasra, the deputy governor of the Palestinian Monetary Authority, said in an interview with The Associated Press. “What is being practiced in the West Bank is economic warfare.”

More cash enters the West Bank than Israel allows out

Central banks in most countries take back cash from commercial banks and credit them electronically so they can settle payments and meet customers’ needs. But in the occupied West Bank — where Palestinians have no say over monetary policies guiding the shekel — the economy runs differently.

The territory has relied predominantly on the Israeli shekel for decades and depends on Israel to facilitate trade, collect taxes and process payments for imported goods under agreements dating to the 1990s. A surfeit of cash accumulates because the Palestinian economy runs almost exclusively on physical currency, and more enters from Israel than can exit.

Why? Employers in Israel and its settlements pay Palestinian laborers in cash, and Palestinian citizens of Israel often purchase goods like cigarettes and fuel in the West Bank, bringing in even more shekels. As more cash flows in, the surplus trapped inside Palestinian banks grows, neither earning interest nor getting turned into loans, investments and bill payments.

Israel's cash transfer limit from the West Bank's banking system is 18 billion shekels ($5.9 billion) a year. Banks now accumulate an estimated 30 billion shekels a year, said Moayad Afaneh, an economist who has advised the Palestinian Authority.

In the past, Israeli officials expressed reluctance to accept more, citing concerns that returned money could be linked to laundering, tax evasion or terrorism.

Bank of Israel said in a statement that it follows the current government's policy on how many shekels to accept but that fewer Palestinians have worked in Israel since the war in Gaza started, thereby reducing the cash entering the West Bank.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich 's office did not respond to requests for comment but in September 2025 Smotrich threatened to “use all of the tools” at his disposal to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state, including “economic strangulation.”

Palestinians say Israel limits taking shekel as economic leverage

Israel has imposed a series of measures that have hobbled the West Bank’s economy since Hamas-led militants attacked in October 2023, starting the war in Gaza.

It revoked most work permits for Palestinians who used to work in Israel, cutting off a major source of income in the occupied territory. It has withheld tax and customs revenue collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, which in turn has been unable to fully pay public sector workers, including teachers and hospital staff, for more than a year.

With growing needs for vault space, banks are having to pay to store and insure cash they're unable to offload. They're accepting less from businesses and households, which in turn have to find alternative ways to store cash safely.

The excess shekel problem is “directly affecting the government’s ability and the private sector’s capacity to continue providing services to major industrial sectors and the Palestinian people,” Manasra said.

As an example, he noted most of the West Bank’s fuel and electricity is imported from Israel or purchased from Israeli utilities. When banks have too much of their assets tied up as physical cash, they don't have the funds when their clients — like the Palestinian Authority or West Bank cities — need to transfer payments to import fuel, water and electricity.

Fears of looting by Israeli soldiers conducting increasingly common home raids have made the problem worse, Afaneh, the economist, said. Palestinians are depositing more into banks because they fear soldiers will confiscate it, claiming suspiciously large sums could be used for illicit purposes or terrorism.

Having too much cash on hand also hurts the banks' bottom lines because they can't lend out money like most banks, which today do so electronically. A 2022 International Monetary Fund study estimated excess cash reduced Palestinian banks’ profits by about 20%, a figure Afaneh said is likely much higher today.

Cash-based businesses in the West Bank have money but can't pay suppliers

Inside the Ramallah headquarters of the Al-Huda Group, cigarette smoke and tea steam drift through an office where clerks feed banknotes into machines that spit out neat stacks of counted bills. The company operates filling stations, convenience, grocery and home improvement stores, car washes and other businesses that collect tens of millions of shekels each month.

Stockpiles of money that cash-based businesses can’t deposit because the banks are full has made routine operations and transactions more difficult and expensive, said Hussni Jaber, the executive manager of the Al-Huda Group.

To make electronic payments to Palestinian and foreign suppliers, for example, some businesses have resorted to taking out loans or buying other currencies while also paying more to keep their overabundance of cash on hand safely stored, Jaber said.

When they can't pay their suppliers, some gas stations have to stop filling their pumps. The Palestinian Authority in a statement pointed to the issue when gas stations temporarily closed on Saturday.

Last month, a number of gas station owners coordinated a 30-minute strike across the West Bank, including the 22 operated by Al-Huda, to draw attention to the cash crisis. It has done little to prompt a response.

With their earnings stuck outside the traditional banking system, business leaders fear the cash glut will eventually prevent West Bank companies from being able to import fuel, food and medical supplies from Israel or elsewhere abroad, Jaber said.

“All sectors will collapse if the cash problem is not resolved," he said.

Features

Sudan’s Gum Arabic Industry Crippled as War and Displacement Take Their Toll

A farmer harvests gum arabic near the town of En Nahud in western Sudan, a major center for gum arabic production, December 18, 2012. (Reuters)
A farmer harvests gum arabic near the town of En Nahud in western Sudan, a major center for gum arabic production, December 18, 2012. (Reuters)
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Sudan’s Gum Arabic Industry Crippled as War and Displacement Take Their Toll

A farmer harvests gum arabic near the town of En Nahud in western Sudan, a major center for gum arabic production, December 18, 2012. (Reuters)
A farmer harvests gum arabic near the town of En Nahud in western Sudan, a major center for gum arabic production, December 18, 2012. (Reuters)

Sudan’s war has driven thousands of gum arabic producers from their land, destroyed vast hashab and talh forests, and turned one of the country’s most strategic exports into the subject of international warnings over the possible use of its revenues to finance the conflict.

While the world struggles to trace the gum arabic trade, Sudanese producers face a different crisis: the loss of their land, harvests, and livelihoods, forcing many into displacement and dependence on humanitarian aid.

Aida Hassan has produced gum arabic in the Blue Nile State for more than 15 years, following a family trade passed down through generations. The income once allowed her family to save money and expand its forests and farms. The war, however, turned her from a self-reliant producer into a displaced woman waiting for humanitarian assistance.

She recalled fleeing after the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) stormed the Bout area of Blue Nile State, looting her family’s harvest, farm equipment, and property. She and her relatives walked for 10 days to reach Damazin.

“What we are living through is like a piece of fire,” she said quietly. “All I have are my tears to cool its heat.”

Her story reflects the plight of thousands of producers forced to abandon Sudan’s gum arabic belt, which stretches across 13 states. Most production is concentrated in Kordofan and Darfur, where large areas have fallen under RSF control or become active battlefields, halting production and displacing farmers.

Harvested mainly from hashab and talh trees, gum arabic is a key ingredient in food, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, and soft drink manufacturing.

According to sector officials, Sudan supplies about 80 percent of global gum arabic production. But the war threatens that position as other countries expand output to benefit from disruptions to Sudanese supplies.

Abkar Adouma Ahmed, head of North Darfur’s gum arabic producers, told Asharq Al-Awsat that regional production has fallen below 30,000 metric tons after most producers fled deteriorating security conditions.

“The war destroyed the gum arabic trading exchange, wiped out productive forests, and severely damaged transport routes for moving crops to market,” he stated.

Awadallah Ibrahim, head of the Gum Arabic Farmers Union, estimated that about one million people work in the sector through 5,000 production associations.

Sudan produces around 20 varieties of gum arabic, with hashab and talh among the world’s finest, he said.

Before the war, Darfur produced more than 30,000 metric tons annually and Kordofan about 40,000, in addition to significant output from Blue Nile State. Some parts of Kordofan now produce only around 10,000 metric tons, while thousands of farmers have lost their livelihoods altogether.

Producers from Al-Fulah, En Nahud, Awlad Bakhit in West Kordofan; Ed Dubeibat and Al Quoz in South Kordofan; and large parts of East Darfur have fled to safer states or neighboring countries as their communities became front lines.

In South Kordofan, producers’ association member Othman Bugadi said production has stopped in Kadugli, Dilling, and Habila — three of the state’s seven gum arabic-producing localities. Many farmers have relocated to El Obeid.

Bugadi told Asharq Al-Awsat that Abu Jubeiha has become the main trading hub after markets in North Kordofan shut down, attracting companies seeking to buy the crop. However, many farmers have refused to return to areas recaptured by the army because of the lack of drinking water and the distance from displacement sites.

Production has also ceased in the area stretching west of El Obeid to En Nahud, home to more than 300 villages once known for producing premium gum arabic.

In Blue Nile, producer and trader Shaker Qandil said the RSF attacked previously peaceful areas and looted about 60 percent of the harvest.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that the hardest-hit areas lie north of Kurmuk, south of the Bao locality, and in the Arab area of Tadamon locality.

Fatima Mohamed Ramli, director of the “Natural Gums Department at the National Forest Corporation”, stressed that the war has wiped out entire forests and that only about 40 percent of the gum arabic belt is currently in production.

The agency plans to distribute one million seedlings across Kordofan to restore damaged forests.

The conflict has also fueled looting and smuggling that threaten Sudan’s position in global markets. Sudanese officials accuse the RSF of transporting gum arabic into neighboring countries.

A UN report likewise revealed that large quantities from RSF-controlled areas were moved through neighboring transit countries before being re-exported as local products, making their true origin difficult to trace.

Ahmed Naqad, spokesman for the government affiliated with the Tasis Alliance, did not respond to Asharq Al-Awsat’s request for comment.

Industry representatives agree that ending the war, while essential, will not by itself restore the sector. Recovery will require a comprehensive reconstruction program that finances producers who lost their crops and equipment, secures production areas, restores drinking water and basic services, rehabilitates roads and markets, and protects hashab and talh forests so Sudan can retain its position as the world’s leading producer and exporter of gum arabic.

Features

What to Know about the Challenges Andy Burnham Will Face as UK Prime Minister

Andy Burnham is pictured before being confirmed as the Labour Party's new leader and the country's next prime minister, during "Labour's Special Conference" in central London on July 17, 2026. (AFP)
Andy Burnham is pictured before being confirmed as the Labour Party's new leader and the country's next prime minister, during "Labour's Special Conference" in central London on July 17, 2026. (AFP)
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What to Know about the Challenges Andy Burnham Will Face as UK Prime Minister

Andy Burnham is pictured before being confirmed as the Labour Party's new leader and the country's next prime minister, during "Labour's Special Conference" in central London on July 17, 2026. (AFP)
Andy Burnham is pictured before being confirmed as the Labour Party's new leader and the country's next prime minister, during "Labour's Special Conference" in central London on July 17, 2026. (AFP)

Andy Burnham will enter 10 Downing Street on Monday with a wave of enthusiasm behind him and a mountain of challenges ahead.

His coronation as British prime minister may be short-lived as he faces the same struggles as his predecessor in trying to temper a cost-of-living crisis, improve overstretched public services, and step into the international spotlight during major wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

He arrives after spending most of the past decade running Greater Manchester, in northwest England, before winning his ticket back to Parliament in a special election last month.

Leading a government delivering services for 70 million people will be a monumentally larger task with problems on a larger scale and facing issues foreign to a leader of a region with 3 million residents.

Here are the main issues confronting Burnham and some hints to how he may approach them:

Boosting the economy and decentralizing government

Burnham has been vague, but promised to provide details this week about how he would fund a domestic agenda to kick-start a sluggish economy, enhance services and raise living standards.

“This change today is the most significant change moment in our politics for 40 years," he said Friday as he became Labour Party leader. “It will take us to a country where life is more affordable, and all people and places are lifted from where they are now.”

Burnham inherits an economy that was improving until the Iran war upended forecasts and growth is now widely predicted to slow sharply over this year while inflation rises.

He has said he wants to equalize opportunities around the UK, particularly by decentralizing government, funneling money to local governments and taking back some services that were privatized four decades ago.

His brand of business-friendly socialism — known as “Manchesterism” and aiming to harness private and public money to invest in areas like transportation, housing and infrastructure — could take years to put in place.

Joshi Herrmann, founder of Manchester news site The Mill, who has covered Burnham for years, said he may be able to soften the blow for some people who are struggling.

“But if the essay question is who can get economic growth and who can remodel the economy in the post-Brexit, post-financial crash era, I’d be very surprised if the answer to that question is Andy Burnham,” Herrmann said.

With the uncertain state of public finances, Burnham won’t have much room to raise spending. He is replacing Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who was elected on a manifesto that ruled out increases in the government’s major tax rates, so he’s locked in unless he breaks those pledges.

Burnham said he would not rule out a wealth tax, telling Gary Lineker on the Goalhanger podcast last week that the government “might be having to ask for a little more."

Foreign policy and striking the right tone with Trump

Burnham has little foreign policy experience, but has promised to continue the government’s NATO commitment and support for the UK’s nuclear deterrent.

He said Britain will remain a strong booster of Ukraine and a firm United States ally.

Relations with the US could depend on how he interacts with a capricious President Donald Trump, who initially gave Starmer glowing reviews only to sour on him for not supporting his war with Iran.

Burnham has publicly criticized Trump in the past but has said he would deal with him respectfully, as he does with others, but would also be willing to disagree.

“I like to think I’ve got some personality myself and I’ll just, you know, I’ll deal with him very upfront in the same way,” he told Lineker. "Where you disagree, do it, but do it in a way that is kind of meeting him where he’s at.”

Trump has pushed NATO members to significantly boost military spending, and Burnham will be under pressure to exceed the defense spending goals set out by Starmer.

The defense plan calling for a 15-billion-pound ($20 billion) spending boost is much smaller than military leaders had sought and has been criticized for not being fully funded under the current budget.

Sensitive messaging about Israel's war with Hamas

Burnham has criticized Starmer's approach to Israel's war with Hamas and the devastation of Gaza.

Burnham condemned the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel by Hamas fighters, who killed around 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage, but said the British government waited too long to call for a ceasefire.

More than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government. The ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, is staffed by medical professionals who maintain detailed records viewed as generally reliable by United Nations agencies and independent experts.

Burnham said the UK would consider further sanctions against Israelis involved in Gaza violence and illegal West Bank settlements.

The issue is a sensitive one for Labour, which was found to be tainted with antisemitism before Starmer took over, and also relies on the support of a large Muslim population.

Burnham’s comments drew a backlash from Jewish groups, but he's also been criticized by pro-Palestinian groups for not declaring Israel's bombardment of Gaza a genocide.

The thorny issue of migration

During his acceptance speech as Labour’s leader on Friday, Burnham did not mention immigration, which is a top issue for many voters.

Like much of Europe and other wealthier nations, the UK has seen an influx of migrants fleeing war-torn areas, famine, climate-driven crises, political persecution and poverty.

Concerns over English Channel crossings in overcrowded inflatable boats has helped propel the anti-immigration Reform UK party to victory in recent local and regional elections that led Labour to oust Starmer as leader.

Burnham has largely said he would follow the current Labour playbook on migration, which has touted reductions in net migration from more than 900,000 in 2023 to 171,000 last year. Channel crossings are down 40% this year compared to the same time in 2025.

Burnham wants to continue reducing net migration and voted in support of a bill that aims to further cut channel crossings and direct people to safer, legal routes.