At the end of 2022, the Movement FAIR sent an appeal to all regional councils and city councils of regional centers to find out the number of deputies defending our country. The other day, the publication presented the results of its research.
In total, data were obtained only from seven city councils of regional centers and four regional councils. This is explained by the fact that councils are not required to have information about the details of military service of deputies. Therefore, the HONEST Movement simultaneously made requests to political parties and prepared a separate study "Deputies at war: how local politicians protect Ukraine".
In every council that provided data to the CHESNO Movement, there are deputies who took up arms. Some have even drawn up a mandate to allow the next associate from the party list to enter the council and perform a representative function.
In the Chernivtsi city council, 26% of deputies joined the military service. All of them perform combat tasks in the military formations of Ukraine.
They took up weapons більше quarter of deputies. Under such conditions, it can be quite difficult to gather a quorum for decision-making in the council. Therefore, the problems of the city can be solved in a longer and more difficult way. Therefore, several deputies decided draw up mandates and give new deputies the opportunity to replace them.
Among them are deputies of the city council from the party "People's control" Ivan Honcharyuk and Mykhailo Yarynych. They reported that they are withdrawing their powers and remain in the Armed Forces to protect the Motherland from the enemy, and the places of deputies of the city council should be filled by worthy candidates. They are relevant statements filed to the council in November and are no longer deputies.
A deputy from the party also serves "Mikhailishyn's Team" Sergey Kozak. He returned to the service in the first days of the invasion, because he has combat experience. During his service in the ATO, he was in combat lost leg, but continued to fire until the enemy retreated. Doctors were miraculously able to sew up the severed leg, which Serhiy himself put in his backpack, after 5 hours. Now he has returned to the front, but to him succeeds to combine deputy duties and service.
The City Council of Dnipro is inferior to Chernivtsi by only 1%. However, most of those who serve here have a volunteer contract of the DFTG and can terminate it at any time.
In response to our inquiry, the Dnipro City Council reported that several more deputies are unofficial volunteers of the DFTG.
In this city there is a voluntary formation of the mayor's office. This is Varta Dnipro, which was officially created at the city council on March 7, 2022. But this is the legal date of creation, and in fact the first volunteer groups went out to patrol the streets and districts already in the evening of February 24.
The formation includes and deputies city Council. A representative was appointed as the head "European Solidarity" Artem Khmelnikov.
Deputy Oleksiy Bezugliy by "Offers" also participated in DFTG and told about the combat coordination of his unit.
23% of deputies serve in the Kyiv City Council. Here, the deputies were equally divided into mobilized and volunteer DFTG.
The Kyiv City Council has the most deputies — 120. 27 of them joined the ranks of the defense forces or territorial defense after February 24, 2022. Representatives of almost all police forces, except one, took up arms. Quite expectedly, these are representatives of the already banned HLE which is headed by a well-known ex-regional in the Kyiv City Council Oleksandr Popov. The same one who in 2013, as the head of the KMDA, tried to hinder the Revolution of Dignity by installing a "Christmas tree" on the Maidan.
We will remind you that the people from OPZZ still remain in the local self-government bodies, because the parliament has been in session for almost a year postpones the decision to deprive pro-Russian deputies of mandates in local councils and the VRU.
The faction has the largest percentage of deputies who took up arms "Voice". The fraction occupies the second position "Motherland", because about 40% of deputies from the party joined the defense of the state. The third position is taken by the party "Unity", in which also four out of five deputies in service have a contract with the DFTG. Next in the ranking are non-factional deputies, "Servant of the people", HIT and EU.
We already have wrote about deputies of the Kyiv Council who are at the front, in the first part of the study. By danimi Members of the Kyiv City Council, in the ranks of the Territorial Defense Battalions and the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the east and south of Ukraine, serve in the military. Oles Malyarevich, Alina Mykhaylova, Vadim Vasilchuk and Yury Fedorenko.
Alina Mykhaylova has been in military service since 2016. At the front, she met her boyfriend, Dmytro "Da Vinci" Kotsyubail, the first volunteer who received the title of Hero of Ukraine during his lifetime. After the full-scale invasion, they served together. On March 7, 2023, Da Vinci died in the battle near Bakhmut. He defended the country from the age of 18, going to the front in 2014.
That is why deputies do not just fight. They and their families also lose loved ones at the front.
In addition to the above-mentioned members of the Kyiv City Council, there are others Alexander Pogrebyskywhich also went for military service and participated in battles in the south and east of Ukraine. However, he noted that he is not removing his parliamentary duties and will continue to work on the development of Kyiv.
Five deputies are on duty in the Lviv City Council, all of them perform combat missions in the ranks of military formations.
On the service the secretary of the council is present Markian Lopachak, who is a member of the Legion of Freedom combatant association. A deputy from the VO also took up a weapon "Freedom" in the Lviv City Council Andriy Tyahnybok, the younger brother of the party chairman Oleg Tyagnibok.
The leader Ukrainian Galician Party in the city council of Lviv Taras Choliy defends the country as part of the 103rd separate brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces. She also serves as a deputy from "European Solidarity" Tatiana Shevchenko.
A deputy from the party also serves in the war zone "Vote" 26 years old Ihor Sholtys. Later in February 2023 he said, which constitutes the powers of a deputy due to the fact that he cannot combine his service in the Armed Forces and deputyship.
Three members of the Khmelnytskyi City Council and one each of the Chernihiv and Cherkasy City Councils are doing military service. All of them are mobilized or have signed a contract with the Armed Forces of Ukraine or other military formations of Ukraine.
Khmelnytskyi has three deputies from the party at once "Team Simchyshyn" took up arms. However, it is difficult to find information about the details of their service, because the data of servicemen are confidential and can be written only at the request and with the permission of the military.
Not only deputies serve and bear losses, but also their family members. A man lost deputy of the Khmelnytskyi City Council from the "Symchyshyn Team" Anastasia Yarova.
There is one deputy from Cherkasy on duty "European Solidarity" Ruslan Batyr. In November he received promotion.
A deputy from the party is also on duty in the Chernihiv Council "Native home", however, there is no publicly available information on which of the faction's deputies is a military serviceman.
Among the regional councils, Ternopil has the largest number of defenders, as 12 deputies (or 19%) joined the defense forces. All of them are mobilized or contracted military formations and will serve until victory and demobilization.
Head of the Council informed, that the deputies of the Ternopil Regional Council are currently fighting Stepan Barna, Taras Yurik, Oleg Valov, Valery Chobotar, Lubomyr Krupa, Volodymyr Gach, Vasyl Derevlyanyi, Taras Dyachun, Bohdan Butkovskyi, Oleg Lyubinsky, Maria Chashka, Vasyl Chashka.
The only woman among them Maria Chashka is the deputy commander of the "Karpatska Sich" (Legion of Freedom) battalion. The war is for her started eight years ago, when her son went to the front. Maria also signed a contract and began studying military affairs. When the commander died in battle, it was she who led the unit.
MP from EU Taras Yurik went to the Military Commissariat in the first days of the invasion, although he had no military experience. As the head of the "Football Association of Ternopil region", he planned to hold sports events on February 23, but the next day everything has changed.
Next in the ranking is the Transcarpathian Regional Council, five of whose deputies are serving in the military. This is 8% of the total number of people's elected representatives.
Press service of the Transcarpathian Regional Council tells about the service of deputies on the official website.
The first photo was widely circulated in the media in May, because it shows a professor of the Uzhhorod National University Fedor Sandor gives lectures to students from the trenches, in between battles. He is also a deputy of the Transcarpathian Regional Council.
Oblrada as well Saidthat a deputy joined the defense ranks Iryna Galai. Iryna is a record holder of Ukraine, the first Ukrainian mountaineer who climbed the two highest peaks in the world - Everest and K2. In her social networks, Iryna thethat he will conquer new heights only after victory.
In the Chernivtsi Regional Council, three deputies — about 5% — are doing military service. For example, since the beginning of the invasion, a deputy from the party has been in the service "People's control" Andriy Kuharuk is staying at the front.
It is difficult to find out more about deputies at the front and the combination of deputyship with service, because the regional council does not cover much of their activities.
Cherkasy is another regional council that responded to the CHESNO Movement.
In it, two deputies joined military service, which is 3% of the total number. On duty, in particular, the deputy head of the regional council Serhii Lisovyi. He performs tasks in the south of Ukraine.
As the results of the study show, local deputies often choose to defend their community and Ukraine not only in the session hall, but also at the front with weapons in hand. Their contribution, like the contribution of every Ukrainian, brings our victory closer, and therefore we must continue to fight and support each other in the fight for a common future.
At the same time, the HONEST Movement pays attention the government that the new restrictions on the departure of local council members abroad significantly worsen the situation for communities. From the first days of the war, local elected officials have been strengthening the diplomatic front, helping to attract humanitarian aid and resources for reconstruction.
Victoria Oliynyk, HONEST Movement
