Is the Rada being prepared for a long war - MPs explained the situation

On Tuesday, March 24, media reported that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had instructed the Verkhovna Rada to prepare a plan for the parliament's work, taking into account that the country would be at war for at least another three years.

The news, citing its own sources in parliament, was published by UP.

UNN investigated this topic together with people's deputies.

Parliament on a war footing: what MPs say

Andriy Motovylovets, first deputy head of the SN faction, who, according to media reports, was supposed to work on the "military" plan for the Rada's work for the next few years, refused to comment on the matter. Thus, he neither denied nor confirmed work on such a document.

MP Olha Vasylevska-Smahliuk replied that she personally knew nothing about the President's corresponding instruction or about the start of developing a "military" plan for the Rada's work.

Fedir Venislavskyi, a member of the parliamentary committee on national security and defense, also confirmed in an exclusive comment to UNN: there is no information about such a task.

This looks somewhat strange. There are plans for legislative work, which are formed annually taking into account proposals from all subjects of legislative initiative, and the Verkhovna Rada must implement them.

What preceded this

UP, citing its own sources in the Verkhovna Rada, published a material stating that the parliament is preparing to work for several more years under wartime conditions.

Moreover: the President of Ukraine has allegedly already instructed the first deputy head of the "Servant of the People" faction, Andriy Motovylovets, to start working on a plan according to which the parliamentarians will act. The latter, according to the media's interlocutor, has already actively engaged in the work, although he was not limited by deadlines.

The reason for such a decision by the head of state is the lack of progress in trilateral negotiations between Ukraine, the USA, and Russia.

"We understand that negotiations in the trilateral format will most likely be put on hold, because neither side is ready to make concessions," the media quotes its informant.

Recall

Earlier, Oleksandr Kornienko, head of the working group for preparing comprehensive legislative proposals on the specifics of organizing and conducting elections during a special period and/or post-war elections in Ukraine, and first deputy chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, stated that there was agreement on the impossibility of holding elections during martial law. Currently, the authorities are working on voting mechanisms for military personnel and refugees.