Zelensky open to wartime election
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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Charlotte Gallagher, and in the early hours of Wednesday, the 10th of December, these are our main stories. President Zelensky says he's ready to change Ukrainian law to allow elections to be held under martial law. Donald Trump lashes out at European allies, calling them decaying nations led by weak people who fail to control immigration. And M23 rebels reportedly enter a strategic town in eastern Congo despite a recent ceasefire with the army. Also in this podcast, the BBC visits Sierra Leone, where children are going from classrooms to gold mines and... They must be inhaling terabytes of information because their sense of smell is so cute.
They're probably smelling emotions, smelling things that happen that we can only dimly understand. We look back on the life of the so-called elephant whisperer. After Donald Trump claimed that President Zelensky was using war not to hold an election, the Ukrainian leader has said he's ready to do just that if security can be guaranteed during it. Look, I am ready for the elections. Not only that, but I am now asking, and I am saying this openly, for the United States to help me, possibly together with our European colleagues, to ensure security for those elections. Then, in the next 60 to 90 days, Ukraine will be ready to hold elections. I personally have the will and readiness to do so. Mr Zelensky was elected in 2019, but has remained in post because martial law was declared, suspending the need for elections in a democracy during a time of war.
Hannah Schellest is a foreign policy analyst with the think tank Ukrainian Prism.
Even a year ago, President Zelensky said that he's ready for elections as soon as the conditions allow, because there were statements originally from the European Union calling for the elections. Then the U.S. president already spoke about this. And he said that he doesn't have any problems with this. The question is how to create conditions in addition to the fact that martial law legally prohibits to have elections in Ukraine. But just technically, one million soldiers at the front line, four million refugees, plenty of the absolutely unsecured place. and strikes. So you cannot guarantee the security of the polling stations, first of all, not speaking about the whole process. But if it is the main condition of the United States to continue helping Ukraine, theoretically everything can be done.
Sviatoslav Yorash is the youngest member of parliament from President Zelensky's Servant of the People Party.
The whole point is the reality of the elections is impossible without various measures and various means, such as much more advanced anti-air systems that will try and protect Ukrainians that are going to the polls all over the country. Russians have attacked everywhere around the country and there is no reason to think they want to attack on the election day, whatever the election day may be. The reality is it's not just a question of what America wants. The question is what will guarantee this peace lasting.
My colleague Alex Ritson has been speaking to our reporter Will Vernon.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–6:20
2
What changes is President Zelensky proposing for Ukrainian elections?
6:20–8:24
3
How is Donald Trump's rhetoric affecting European allies?
8:24–8:55
4
What is the current situation with M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo?
8:55–9:38
5
What challenges do children face in Sierra Leone's gold mining?
9:38–11:59
6
What security guarantees does Zelensky seek for Ukrainian elections?
11:59–30:47
Speakers
6 identifiedMore from Global News Podcast
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