The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (VRU) summed up its work since the beginning of russia's full-scale invasion.
Since February 24, 2022, the VRU has held 46 meetings and implemented about 100 legislative acts aimed at countering russian aggression, including 24 appeals to the international community. 39 laws and 31 draft laws were adopted to fulfill Ukraine's European integration commitments. The VRU was active in parliamentary diplomacy promoting Ukraine's progress towards the EU and NATO membership, establishing a special international tribunal for the crime of aggression in Ukraine, russia's exclusion from international organizations, and other issues regarding the military, financial, and humanitarian aid of Ukraine.
Verkhovna Rada intends to prohibit disseminating information about the plenary session.
According to Interfax, the VRU has voted in the first reading on draft law 9005, which forbids disseminating information about the plenary session. Due to the amendments, MPs are prohibited from sharing information about the plenary session's time, place, course, and results in any way earlier than one hour after its closure or announcement of a break in the ongoing plenary session. If an MP violates this rule, the VRU may decide, without discussion, to suspend an MP from participating in plenary sessions for up to five days, based on the opinion of the Regulatory Committee.
About 200 students learned about the parliament as an institution, its functions, structure, and organization of work, MPs' rights and duties, and the legislation process. Moreover, participants had an opportunity to communicate with MP Olena Kryvoruchkina directly and ask questions.
On February 21, experts presented the draft Concept, which reflects civil society opinion on the parliamentary governing of future Ukraine. The participants of the expert discussion were invited to comment on the document. Their recommendations were collected and would be taken into account to refine the Concept.
Altogether 220 participants attended the lesson. They learned how the EU was created and how it functions these days. Particular attention was devoted to the EU parliamentary system and the assistance provided by the EU to Ukraine during wartime. Olena Kodratiuk, VRU Deputy Speaker, and Ihor Kogut, Program’s Chief of Party, started the lesson with the opening remarks.
During the week, the communication expert held a meeting with PRS representatives to develop their communication strategy, while the expert on building international partnerships worked on the future PRS twinning activity and conducted the needs assessment of the PRS staff.
USAID RADA: Next Generation launched a "Need to know during wartime" information campaign with MPs to address information and communication gaps with Ukrainians who are in temporarily occupied territories or have gone abroad due to security threats. The campaign introduces and promotes five videos in which MPs inform how the Ukrainian government helps citizens to tackle social issues under martial law (e.g., how to remotely receive a pension in the temporarily occupied territories, how to pass the medical and social commission, how to apply for medical evacuation abroad, etc.). Developed videos on different social issues help us to evaluate the effectiveness of this model of MPs' communication with voters and allow us to provide further recommendations for its implementation.