Reasons for the absence of deputies in the Verkhovna Rada in 2025: list of absentees

In 2025, 13 people’s deputies did not attend any Verkhovna Rada meetings. The reasons for their absence vary, but all of them did not fulfill their duties, as reported by the Telegram channel “BlackBox”.

Several deputies missed the meeting because they are under investigation. Among them are Oleksandr Dubinsky, Yevheniy Shevchenko, Nestor Shufrych, Ihor Ponomarev, and Andriy Khrystenko. They are involved in criminal cases, so their political activity is limited.

Another group of deputies has not appeared in public for several years. Serhiy Shakhov, Yaroslav Dubnevych, Artem Dmytruk, and Yuriy Odarchenko are considered fugitive deputies; their whereabouts are usually unknown, and they do not try to return to parliamentary activity.

It is also worth noting Yuriy Kunitsky, who has been officially on a “business trip” abroad for more than a year and has not been in parliament during 2025.

Among the stable absentees remain Ihor Palytsia and Anzhelika Labunska, who regularly appear in reports as deputies who fail to fulfill their duties.

The absence of Deputy Oleg Tarasov from the Servant of the People party, who previously attended meetings for some time, but disappeared completely since the beginning of 2025, was a surprise. The reasons for his behavior have not yet been disclosed.

Another 13 deputies sometimes appeared in the session hall, but did not actually fulfill their duties. For example, Vadym Stolar missed 95% of meetings, and Petro Poroshenko was absent in 79% of cases. Among them are representatives of the Batkivshchyna, Holos, and Za Maybutne parties, who also demonstrate low activity.

In a situation where the country is waging a full-scale war and the parliament needs to make decisions and pass laws, such an absence of deputies is alarming. Despite the work of parliament, a significant number of elected deputies are excluded from the decision-making process.