In Ukraine, relations between President Volodymyr Zelenskyi and the Verkhovna Rada, which until now were considered loyal to the president and his administration, suddenly became strained.
The first signs of this were noticed back in July, when the parliament suddenly decided to announce a break in its work for almost a month.
Today, Zelenskyi made a rather sharp statement on this matter, calling on the Council to hold a meeting "immediately in the near future". According to him, draft laws on payments to fighters for the operation in Kurshchyna, the granting of Ukrainian citizenship to foreigners in the Armed Forces and their relatives, trophy weapons, and the deprivation of ranks and awards of collaborators require urgent approval.
"Of course, in addition to the decisions I mentioned, there are some other equally important legislative initiatives that strengthen our independence, in particular, spiritual independence, as well as government work to implement them. All this must be done really quickly," Zelenskyi said.
And the parliament has not met for more than three weeks.
The formal reason: the opposition demands a vote on the law banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and as a coercive measure, blocked the parliamentary tribune.
Tentatively, a new plenary session will be held on the 20th of August, and one of the first issues is expected to be the church bill.
However, there is another version, according to which the work of the parliament actually stopped due to behind-the-scenes struggle over the prime minister's seat.
"Strana" reported that since the end of June, rumors have been spreading about the possible appointment of Denys Shmyhal, who heads the government today, to Yuliya Svyridenko, the first deputy prime minister of the economy. This personnel decision is supported by the head of the OP Andriy Yermak, and it is believed that Zelensky has already decided to change the head of the government.
However, the "reboot" still hasn't happened. According to the popular version in parliamentary circles, this is due to hidden resistance within the parliament, which is either supported or even led by the head of the pro-presidential faction "Servants of the People" David Arahamia.
According to opposition People's Deputy Oleksiy Goncharenko ("European Solidarity"), "good and diverse relations" have developed between the prime minister and Arakhamia. At the same time, the head of the faction positions himself as a "decision-making center" independent of Yermak.
"That's why he decided to fight for Shmyhal," the parliamentarian wrote on his Telegram channel.
