“Are MPs tired? Are you serious?” Roman Lozynskyi on ineffective government, elections, demobilization and Plast

MPs and the frontline

I do not believe that MPs should go to the front. These are about 400 people who have to make critical decisions. Another question is why they don't make them. Another question is why the parliament works so inefficiently. Another question is why it is paralyzed at some point. This is a discussion about where the parliament needs to be reconstructed and restarted. Because during a full-scale war, a parliament that does not work — the only legislative body, the only place where laws are passed — is the dream of any aggressor.

It will not do the army any good to simply create a battalion of MPs and send them to the frontline. This can only cause even more problems. We need MPs to work and make all the necessary decisions.

Path from the Verkhovna Rada to the army

It is impossible to say that we were not ready for this. As MPs, we had the same information as citizens. That is, no one sent me an SMS with information that it would happen on that day. It was just that someone believed in it more and prepared, while someone refused to believe it.

I did not refuse it. A month before February 24, my fiancée and I bought 200 liters of fuel, food, and canned goods so that we could be mobile and adapt quickly when making decisions. My family was mostly in the western Ukraine. On February 24, I also sent my fiancée and our dog there. I stayed in Kyiv.

At about 7 a.m., we voted to introduce martial law. Around noon, we were told that we had about 1-2 hours before Russian sabotage reconnaissance groups would start hunting us down in Kyiv. According to the information reported by our special services on the morning of February 24, they knew about our movements, our cars, our places of residence, etc.

On Volodymyrska Street, there was a line of concerned citizens waiting for weapons. In the center of Kyiv, we were given an AK riffle and 60 rounds of ammunition. I asked jokingly, was it to shoot myself? Because if you really have to use small arms and engage in combat, all military men know that these cartridges, even for target practice, which rarely happens, are enough for 2 minutes at most.

I spent the first 10 days in Kyiv. We were preparing for street fighting. By the way, back in October 2021, without any military experience, I signed a contract to serve in the reserve. Even then, the situation was heating up, the Russians were “training” on the borders, and I realized that when day X came, I had to understand my place: you are here, this is your unit, you have this competence, and you are joining. You don't run, you know.

In early March, I arrived at the military unit with which I signed a contract in the reserve. I arrived with an assault rifle, 60 rounds of ammunition, and inner confidence.

I realized that Russia would stop where we would stop it, not where they would get tired. And that our professional troops would not be enough. On March 6, I mobilized in our military unit. Around March 12, 2022, I took the oath. And already in end of March, we left to perform tasks in the southern direction.

Service and liberation of Kherson region

At first, in the spring of 2022, it was reconnaissance without drones. We entered different territories on foot and had several tasks behind enemy lines. It may sound very romantic: small landing craft, boats, landing on the territory that was occupied at the time. In fact, there is very little romantic about it. But it was something that helped in the defense of Mykolaiv and stopping the offensive on Odesa. And these were the tasks that had to be performed to stop the enemy.

Since the summer of 2022, our unit has been working with drones with a focus on drone strikes. During the counteroffensive, we liberated settlements on the Inhulets River and beyond, including the long-suffering Davydiv Brid. We destroyed a lot of hardware. Unfortunately, our unit suffered its first casualties there. Istoryk and Kurka were killed.

So when we entered Kherson and people thanked us, we said: “Thank and remember those who gave their lives during the liberation of these territories. Because not everyone who liberated Kherson came to Kherson.”

Returning to the parliament

In 2022, I participated in a committee meeting online, from the trenches. I was asked to join in because there were not enough votes to hold a meeting that considered the recall of OPFL, Sharii, and Vitrenko deputies from local councils. The court had already banned these parties, but there were thousands of their representatives in local councils. And I joined from the trench because there is no quorum to start the meeting. I came in, and some of the “servants of the people” are disconnected. And we cannot consider the issue because there are not enough MPs.

It was the fall of 2022, and it was a moment for me when I realized that the war at the front is a war for our survival. But the internal struggle in the parliament and other institutions is also super important in order to cleanse ourselves of all that is Russian from within, to separate us from Russia culturally, historically, mentally, by making dozens of important decisions for this. And there are simply no people there. There are 400 of them, and there will be no more. Anyone cannot come there and vote.

Until the summer of 2023, I was still performing tasks in the combat zone, and then I returned to parliament. We have the Law of Ukraine “On the Status of Member of the Parliament”. It says that MPs who are military personnel can be seconded to the Verkhovna Rada to perform the functions of an MP. This is what gave me the opportunity to pause my service in the combat zone. It continues in a different way now, in the rear.

Service terms and demobilization

In fact, this is a very complicated question. Are such terms ideologically necessary? Yes. Even if many people do not like them, such as 4 or 5 years.

But let's be honest. Does anyone in Ukraine, from the political leadership or the military leadership, have any information about how long the war will last, what the intensity of the fighting will be? Of course not. The situation is changing.

In the parliament, we put forward our amendments that there should be a term of service. You can't put the entire burden of the war on those who voluntarily went at the beginning. And for those who are going to join the army, it will be much clearer motivationally, because you understand that you are going, you have three years, conditionally, and you are fighting for three years of your life.

I believe in this. We tried to defend this in the parliament. We failed to do this. Our military leadership made it clear: we cannot put this in the draft law yet. And we understood that the law on mobilization was imperfect, that it was not entirely fair to vote for it without demobilization. But many of my colleagues voted for this law. And I don't know what would have happened if we had read the headline the next morning: “Parliament did not vote and did not support the law on mobilization”.

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Elections

In developed democracies, elections were invented for a reason. They have to take place because the government has to be renewed so that we don't see the same thing as we do now. But obviously, any elections during a full-scale war and active hostilities are out of the question.

Any election is a fierce confrontation, debate, and smear campaigns between different political forces and candidates. It seems to me that the degree of internal tension in our country is very high right now. Who fought, who didn't fight, who fought how, whether you held a rear military position or a combat position, and whether you are wounded or not, and if you are not wounded and have been fighting for three years, then you are fighting in a wrong way. Or you are a volunteer or not, you volunteer more or less. I'm not even talking about whether you are physically in Ukraine or abroad, and if you are abroad, do you have the right to say what you think if you are not subjected to all this shelling?

And there are a lot of such questions. Before going on Facebook and reading comments I need to take a sedative. And if you add the elections to this phase, it's an explosion. And we need to consolidate society. We need to stick together. We need to look for ways to strengthen the front.

But when elections are impossible, then we have an ineffective government. We have unexplainable stories: someone was tired and did not come to vote, they were supposed to hold a meeting for three days, but held it for two. And when I talk to people, I'm usually ashamed. Friends, brothers-in-arms, anyone ask me about it. And I say: “We are fighting, we are trying, but we are a minority”. I realize that this is true. But it doesn't make it easier for people.

Society should remind MPs: “You have hot water, you are warm, you can change your clothes, eat hot food, which those who hold the front cannot do, and you are tired? Excuse me? Are you serious? This is absurd, this is surreal. Go back to work”.

Parliament should work around the clock during martial law. We have decisions to make. Parliament cannot work a few days a month. And the agenda cannot be agreed upon somewhere on Bankova Street.

I'm also an emotional person, and when all this wildness happens in the parliament, my fists clench and I want to solve the issue in a non-discussive way. But the parliament is the only legitimate legislative body. And won't we make it so that by pointing the finger at a few corrupt MPs, we will prepare people to believe that this parliament is not needed and can be replaced by a “strong president” who will concentrate power in his hands? And won't this be the first step towards authoritarianism? I am convinced that it will.

Therefore, whenever we try to delegitimize the government as such by generalizing about the corrupt MPs, generalizing about decisions that are not okay, we need to think about who will benefit from this.

Plast

I believe that we are shaped by the people around us. When we are born, it's family, parents. And then you go out into the world.

Plast shaped me. And I am very grateful to it. I was 7 years old, and my parents sent me there. Once a week, you go to a meeting, talk about a topic, and you have an educator, a mentor. And there they begin to tell you about being faithful to God and Ukraine, helping others, the 14-point Plast law, and various games. And you live like this in this ecosystem. And when you're around the campfire in the evening talking to your peers or elders about Ukraine, about our history, you may not realize much, but it all gets under your skin, into your heart, into your soul, into your mind.

Yes, it's a game (Plast is called a big game), it's friends. But it is also a great education. From childhood, we understood who Shukhevych was, who Bandera was, who Konovalets was. It was very organic for us. And we understood that in our history there were those who fought for Ukraine, and there were those who colonized us and killed Ukrainians. In fact, this is a very strong component of Plast: understanding who we, Ukrainians, are. Why we need Ukraine. And who we are in Ukraine.

Unfortunately, many Plast members have been killed in this war against Russia since 2014. A few of my close friends are Artem Dymyd (Kurka) and Dmytro Pashchuk (Garmash). We fought in the same unit, in the same group.