Ukrainian lawmaker removed from committee chair amid bribery allegations
Source: Iryna Herashchenko
Ukrainian lawmaker Mykola Zadorozhny, a member of the ruling “Servant of the People” party, has been removed from his position as chair of the parliamentary committee overseeing state funding of fortification construction and drone production.
Zadorozhny’s dismissal follows allegations of bribery – the lawmaker was earlier accused of crimes under Article 27, 368 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code after Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine alleged that the lawmaker demanded kickbacks for not interfering with “infrastructure repair works” commissioned by the goverment in the Sumy region.
The disgraced MP has been replaced by Oleksandr Bakumov, also from the “Servant of the People” party, who was supported by 282 members of parliament. The opposition “European Solidarity” faction abstained from the vote, criticizing the decision as merely “swapping one problem for another.””European Solidarity” had proposed Mykhailo Bondar, a member of the same commission, as an alternative candidate. However, the proposal did not gain sufficient support in parliament.
“We are calling for the establishment of a temporary investigative commission, not a special one, given the magnitude of the abuses in fortification construction. It’s time to recruit investigative bodies. Moreover, this should be an instrument of the opposition, and we demand that Mykhailo Bondar be appointed as chair of this commission,” said lawmaker Iryna Herashchenko.
In 2025, the deadliest year yet for civilians, Ukraine’s three largest charitable foundations raised a record 105.9 billion hryvnias. It is more than the years 2022–2024 combined. According to the UN, humanitarian aid in Ukraine was delivered by more than 450 organisations, reaching five million people over the course of the year. Civic foundations hold licences to purchase lethal weapons, which is a function states have monopolised for centuries. These record sums were underwritten by international government grants, which means foreign states now channel billions directly through Ukrainian civic funds, bypassing inter-state channels. It is hard to imagine a stronger institutional trust in civil society.
During the GLOBSEC Defence Forum 2026 in Prague, representatives of “Steel Front”, an initiative by Rinat Akhmetov, discussed with NATO delegations, military officials, and representatives of the European defense industry the lessons learned from Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.
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Rinat Akhmetov’s military initiative, “Steel Front”, has delivered a batch of drones worth UAH 214 million to the 1st “Azov” Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine. This shipment is part of the Metinvest Group’s ongoing support for the unit in 2025.
On October 6, the Administrative Cassation Court within the Supreme Court of Ukraine continued hearing case No. 990/80/25, in which the fifth President and leader of the party “European Solidarity”, Petro Poroshenko, seeks to have Presidential Decree No. 81/2025 from February 12, 2025 — enacting sanctions by the decision of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) — declared illegal and annulled. The plaintiff claims the document was falsified and that the sanctions are a tool of political persecution of the opposition, contrary to international norms. Government representatives deny the allegations and insist their actions were lawful. Journalists of Bukvy were present at the hearing.