Chatter about parliamentary dysfunction is growing louder among Ukrainian legislators – from both the majority Servant of the People party and from the opposition ranks.
Yaroslav Zhelezniak, a Verkhovna Rada member from the opposition party Holos and deputy head of the committee on tax and customs policy, described this week as the most inactive of the entire 2026 session:
“This week will be the last plenary one in March – marking the end of the first quarter of 2026. It will be completely disastrous. Tuesday has already been canceled [due to a lack of votes], and Wednesday through Thursday show no potential either.”
Deputies – the title given to Ukrainian lawmakers in the Verkhovna Rada – are in no hurry to show up. Last week, Deputy Andriy Motovylovets said several dozen of them fear investigation by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) for allegedly accepting payments to vote in particular ways on certain legislation.
It’s largely acknowledged that corruption is a problem among Ukrainian lawmakers, perhaps in no small part due to the official salary being a very low Hr.30,000 ($685) per month.
Ihor Fris, a lawmaker from the president’s Servant of the People party, wrote on Facebook:
“Many of us decided in 2019 to leave well-paid jobs – myself included – for a deputy’s salary, a lifetime of scrutiny, declarations, and other ‘perks’ (a generous word in this context). We signed up for the hatred that comes regardless of positive outcomes, and were ready to carry that weight for a while, in the name of change and belief in change. That’s part of life. But not all of life. Some have had enough of being hostages of the situation. Governments negotiate with partners, and deputies are left to implement the results – and take the blame for it.”
That last point stings for many. Deputies themselves cite “burnout” driven by a relentless barrage of public criticism for laws they feel compelled to support, even when they had no hand in drafting them.
One glaring example: the vote to strip anti-corruption structures of their independence, which forced deputies to legitimize a government decision that ran counter to public opinion and the position of international partners alike. The move was widely seen as driven by fears of potential investigations into actions at the state energy company Energoatom – fears that proved well-founded when a scandal erupted in autumn 2025.
Some opposition members argue that work stoppages are not the answer, and a number of “Servants” agree. Mariana Bezuhla urged colleagues to keep showing up regardless of their frustrations with anti-corruption authorities:
She wrote on Facebook:
“Although I myself have repeatedly spoken about parliament’s fatigue, I still can’t understand some of my colleagues. We have an important mission, real opportunities, and decent conditions – so let’s work. As much as needed. No one has a fixed term of service. We can do so much, and there is still so much to be done. A new world is just beginning. Ahead lie war and work.”
So far, the appeal has had little effect – little enough that it is now threatening to cause problems on the international stage.
By the end of March, the Verkhovna Rada must pass a number of significant laws, including the abolition of tax benefits for entrepreneurs. It is a deeply unpopular measure: Ukrainian businesses, especially small ones, are already operating in survival mode amid war, power outages, and the loss of property to aerial bombardment and shelling. But as administration representatives make clear, it is a requirement of the IMF for continued cooperation.
Yet the government itself has been slow to submit the relevant bill to the Rada. Everyone understands that it would struggle to pass even with full attendance – no one wants to be the scapegoat.
The head of the Rada committee on tax policy, Danylo Hetmantsey, head of the Rada committee on tax policy, wrote on Facebook:
“Failure of the IMF program – and we are closer to that than ever – would mean financial catastrophe. But we have arrived at a predictable conclusion: it is impossible to discuss, gather votes, or pass any initiative in the Verkhovna Rada while the bill itself has not even been submitted.”
Beyond President Volodymyr Zelensky’s comments about potentially mobilizing deputies who refuse to work, the authorities have offered no new response.
Some of the sharpest criticism has come from bloggers and Telegram channels aligned with the president. Popular political blogger Volodymyr Petrov went further than most, writing on Facebook:
“I see serious risks that behind this ‘fatigue,’ members of parliament are concealing intentions to carry out a state coup. I am convinced it is being orchestrated by the heads of parliamentary factions – and financed by Russia. Boiko, Poroshenko, and Arakhamia want to replace the government with a pro-Russian one they can control, strip the president of power, and hand Ukraine over to the Russians.”
The post drew approving responses. Ukrainians have long been accustomed to blaming deputies for the country’s troubles – a legacy of the 1990s, when the quality of the legislative corps was far lower, and when lawmakers tended to receive far more media scrutiny than the Presidential Office or the executive branch.
For now, the situation looks like a stalemate. Deputies are “tired,” but none have followed through on promises to resign their mandates. And the Presidential Office has yet to make any decisive move.
Four legislative sessions were scheduled for this week, including a government question hour on Thursday. Whether Tuesday’s session – March 24 – will even take place remains uncertain, just one day out.
That alone will be a telling sign of whether the “Servant” mono-majority, which has backed nearly every government decision since the summer of 2019, still has the capacity to function.