As of 1 September, the territories of electoral districts 78, 79, 80, 81 and partially 82 are under Russian occupation.
The 78th electoral district, which is located in Berdiansk and partially in Polohy raions of the oblast, was represented in the parliament by Oleksandr Ponomarov, a member of the former OPFL party. The MP’s story also made it to the media.
After reports of the alleged abduction of the MP by the occupiers, the media reported that he had cooperated with Russian troops and joined the work in the occupied territory, where he re-registered his own businesses in his native Berdiansk in accordance with Russian law. The Security Service of Ukraine officially confirmed it on 24 July 2023. The very next day, the MP was placed under arrest without bail.
On 15 July this year, the State Bureau of Investigation and the Prosecutor General’s Office brought the case of high treason and collaboration to court.
Despite the intentions to strip Ponomarov of his mandate, the MP is a member of the VRU Committee on Transport and Infrastructure. After the start of the full-scale invasion, the MP co-authored three draft laws, all of which were submitted before his arrest in July last year and one of which was passed. He also participated in 23.8% of the voting in the 7th–9th sessions of the 9th convocation of the parliament.
The 79th electoral district, located mostly in Vasylivka Raion, is represented in the Verkhovna Rada by Yuliia Yatsyk, a member of the Servant of the People party, who left the party in the autumn of 2022 and resigned from the party’s faction in Parliament on 19 July 2024.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Yatsyk has co-authored 111 draft laws and resolutions of the VRU, of which 29 have been adopted. Since the invasion, the MP has participated in 75.8% of the parliament’s votes.
The parliamentarian is active on social media and publishes information about her work, both in the VRU Committee and about roundtables, such as crimes related to humanitarian aid.
The 80th electoral district, located in Melitopol and part of Melitopol Raion, is represented in parliament by Serhii Minko, a self-nominated candidate. He joined the For the Future parliamentary group in the parliament, from which he moved to the Dovira group last year.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the MP has co-authored 201 draft laws or resolutions of the VRU, of which 67 have been adopted. During the full-scale invasion, Minko took part in 30.9% of parliamentary votes.
The MP has not been publicly active on social media since 31 December 2022 and has not posted on his other page since 2020.
The 81st electoral district, located in part of Melitopol and Berdiansk raions of the oblast, is represented by non-partisan MP Pavlo Melnyk, who was nominated by the Servant of the People party, whose faction member he became in parliament.
After the full-scale invasion, the MP co-authored 24 draft laws and resolutions of the VRU, of which 17 were adopted. Since February 2022, the MP has participated in 79.2% of parliamentary votes. The MP deleted his Facebook page.
The 82nd electoral district, which covers the territory of Zaporizhzhia and part of the Polohy raion of the oblast, is represented in parliament by Maryna Nikitina, a non-partisan MP nominated by the Servant of the People party, in whose faction she is a member.
The parliamentarian is a co-author of 189 draft laws and resolutions of the VRU, of which 50 have been adopted. Nikitina has participated in 76.3% of the VRU’s votes since the commencement of the full-scale invasion.
The parliamentarian uses social media intermittently, but she covers her work in the VRU Committee, for example, the weekly work of the Committee on Agrarian and Land Policy or the situation on the Polish-Ukrainian border.
Position of MPs
The majority of the 5 MPs surveyed, namely 3 of them representing the occupied districts of the oblast, voted for the draft law regulating the activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate) adopted in August. Two more, namely Serhii Minko and Oleksandr Ponomarov, were absent.
However, it is worth noting that Oleksandr Ponomarov is currently under investigation for high treason. As a result, he is absent from the sessions and has the lowest voting rate among the MPs from the region.
The activity indicators in the session hall are quite high for the MPs in our sample. Thus, three out of five, Pavlo Melnyk, Maryna Nikitina, and Yuliia Yatsyk, participated in voting in more than 70% of cases. At the same time, Serhii Minko voted only in slightly more than 30% of the sessions.
