On the night of January 11, the deputy head of the Councilʼs Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence Maryana Bezuhla informed that she was leaving the “Servant of the People” faction and party.
"I donʼt need a weak faction and party in the war. I will continue to support the initiatives of the president, but I do not want to have joint obligations with the MPs of the faction, who stick a knife in the back," she noted after the podium was blocked in the Verkhovna Rada on the afternoon of January 10, demanding that a resolution on the recall of Bezuhla from office be included in the parliamentʼs agenda in the committee (the resolutions were never brought to order).
Bezuhla also accused the committee of which she is a member of "criminal inertness" and stated: "I do not need your quota as the deputy chairman of the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, when you demand that I remain silent."
According to the member of parliament, the Verkhovna Rada and the Armed Forces of Ukraine need "radical changes".
"Nothing can take away the inner sense of honor and dignity. And there is no time. I wrote a statement to leave the “Servant of the People” faction and party. I support the president. I remain the majority deputy of the Obolonsky district with all the obligations of openness and working with citizens," she concluded.
- The Verkhovna Rada currently has several draft resolutions on the recall of Bezuhla from the post of deputy chairman of the Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence.
- The first such draft resolution (No. 10295) was registered in the parliament on November 27, 2023 against the background of a scandal related to Bezuhlaʼs posts on Facebook, which related to the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi (in particular, the member of parliament wrote that Zaluzhnyi did not provide a war plan for 2024, therefore the military leadership of Ukraine "must leave"). In this project, Bezuhlaʼs colleague from the faction Ihor Kryvosheev proposed to recall her "in connection with unsatisfactory work in the position."
- On November 28, another draft of the resolution on the recall of Bezuhla from her position in the committee (No. 10300) was registered by her colleague from the faction Yuliya Yatsyk. In the explanatory note, Yatsyk emphasized that Bezuhlaʼs recent actions were aimed at discrediting Zaluzhnyi and undermining the authority of the Armed Forces command.
- The third draft of the resolution on recalling Bezuhla from office (No. 10391) was initiated by a group of the MPs, including the head of the Committee on National Security, the MP from "Servant of the People" Oleksandr Zavitnevich. The project was registered on January 6, 2024. In the explanatory note to him, there is no mention of Bezuhlaʼs statement to Zaluzhnyi or indications of the reasons for the withdrawal.