“People’s Deputies in the Trenches”: Why Military Service Doesn’t Have to Be a Horror

Attempts to put pressure on the parliament only exacerbate the political crisis within Ukraine, so it is worth avoiding brazen communication from the leadership, which can undermine stability in a difficult period, and there is also no need to turn the Armed Forces of Ukraine into a kind of horror story for people’s deputies.

This opinion was expressed on the air of “Pryamoye” by Oleksiy Petrov, a participant in the Russian-Ukrainian war, commenting on the head of state’s initiatives to send people’s deputies of the current convocation to the front line.

He recalled that Ukraine has a parliamentary-presidential form of government, where the highest legislative body is not subject to the will of the head of state. Moreover, everyone must do their job for the functioning of the state.

“Without a parliament, a country cannot exist. And no matter how much people want to send all these deputies to the front, because we always, if anything, immediately “send everyone to the front” – but the Verkhovna Rada must work,” Petrov noted.

In his opinion, the political crisis requires balanced decisions instead of populist slogans about sending all officials to the trenches. In addition, the blogger raised the topic of the perception of the Armed Forces of Ukraine as a place of correction for punished individuals. He spoke out against the rhetoric that equates a constitutional duty with exile to a colony.

“We have the impression that the army is turning into some kind of correctional educational colony. If anything, either you work or you leave… This is complete nonsense, because this is a disregard for the role of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” the war veteran emphasizes.

At the same time, Petrov drew a parallel with the Israeli IDF, where defending the homeland is considered a great honor. In Ukraine, some representatives of the government use the army to intimidate deputies or opponents, which humiliates real heroes, he added.

The studio guest reminded that the state is held together by the defense forces, the National Guard, and the SBU units on the front lines, so the humiliation of the status of the defender of the homeland harms defense capabilities and demotivates society, and such initiatives are reminiscent of Soviet methods of upbringing through fear.

“Performing military duty should be perceived as an honorable mission, not as a way of punishment for mistakes or political disagreement,” Oleksiy Petrov summarized.

Earlier, People’s Deputy Oleksandr Yurchenko reported on a TV channel that there are many deputies in the Verkhovna Rada who are “tired of working” in parliament. They have allegedly already written applications for a mandate.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that either the deputies will have to work , or he is ready to initiate a review of the changes to mobilization so that they can fight. According to the head of state, another option for solving the problem with voting in the Rada is changes to the legislation and holding elections, but these are impossible during the war.

As is known, the parliamentary coalition faced serious difficulties in passing government bills. The Verkhovna Rada effectively stopped supporting the initiatives of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, as evidenced in particular by the failure of the vote on the bank profit tax.

In addition, the crisis in the Ukrainian parliament is deepening due to ambiguous statements by the state’s top leadership regarding sending to the front those deputies who plan to resign early. Such rhetoric has sparked a wave of discussions about the legality and ethics of such steps within the walls of the Verkhovna Rada.

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