Ukraine: four dead in a drone strike in Kherson and debate on the elections

A Russian drone strike on a bus killed four people and injured four others Wednesday morning in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, according to the regional prosecutor's office.

“According to preliminary information, the attack killed four civilian passengers,” said this source, affirming that the bus was traveling on a street in this city very regularly targeted by Russian strikes.

The popular former Defense Minister Mikhailo Fedorov, dismissed in July by President Volodymyr Zelensky, called on Tuesday evening to open the way for elections in Ukraine despite the Russian invasion, to “restore the democratic process”.

“Democracy cannot be held hostage by Russia,” he said in a speech broadcast on YouTube, putting back on the table the thorny question of organizing elections, impossible under the martial law in force since the start of the Russian invasion.

“We are fighting precisely because we want to remain a free European state. […] Thus, we must find a legal, safe and realistic mechanism that will allow Ukraine to restore a full democratic process even in the midst of a protracted war,” added Zelensky’s likely future challenger.