Image source, Reuters Image caption,

Volodymyr Zelensky was elected as Ukraine's president in 2019

By Abdujalil Abdurasulov

BBC News, Kyiv

How can you hold elections in a war?

For months, Ukraine has been caught up in a heated debate over whether the country needs to hold a presidential election next year as originally scheduled.

All elections - including presidential ones - are prohibited under the country's current martial law, imposed after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Many in Ukraine are outraged by the idea, fearing a vote could distract the nation from its fight for survival.

Tensions eased after President Volodymyr Zelensky said in November that it was "not the right time" for elections.

But the issue seems to be far from over, and has fuelled a political confrontation unseen in the country since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.

One of the big driving forces for the row though lies not in Ukraine, but the US.

US party politics

The discussion about Ukrainian elections is partly being pushed by US politicians ahead of the country's election in 2024, particularly by a small group within the Republican party, says Olha Aivazovska, chairwoman of the election monitoring network Opora.