Ukraine will seek help from foreign intelligence services during the elections, The Times reports

Ukraine intends to ask for help from foreign intelligence services if presidential elections are held.

This was reported by The Times, citing an employee of Ukrainian intelligence.

The newspaper writes that Kyiv plans to approach countries where Ukrainians live and ask them to help organize polling stations abroad. At the same time, the Ukrainian authorities will request assistance from foreign intelligence services “to vet local officials” responsible for conducting the vote. This is needed to “prevent Russian interference” in the elections, the intelligence officer explained.

“Each vote-counting commission must include local representatives of the main parties, and we expect the Russians will try to staff these commissions with their own representatives and organize falsification of the voting results,” the officer said.

In addition, Iryna Mudra, deputy head of the Ukrainian president’s office, told The Times that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has instructed the government to find a way to hold elections in the country, and the authorities have already created a working group to draft amendments to election legislation. Mudra noted that voting rights should apply both to Ukrainians living abroad and to residents of territories occupied by Russian forces and those close to the front line.

On February 11, the Financial Times reported, citing sources, that on February 24 Zelenskyy planned to announce presidential elections in Ukraine and a referendum on concluding a peace agreement with Russia. Both votes were allegedly to take place before May 15. At the same time, Zelenskyy himself said he had not heard of such plans.

Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov noted that it is too early to talk about holding Ukrainian elections.