As of 1 September, the 185th and 186th electoral districts in the region were fully occupied by Russians, and the 184th was partially occupied.
The 184th district, which covers Beryslav and partially Kakhovka raions of the oblast, is represented in parliament by Servant of the People MP Serhii Kozyr. He entered parliament after the midterm parliamentary elections held in the district on 31 October 2021.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, he has co-authored 67 draft laws and resolutions of the VRU, of which 22 have been adopted. Since 24 February 2022, the MP has participated in 87% of the VRU’s votes.
The politician is active on social media, publishing reports on parliamentary meetings, work in the committee and the VRU’s temporary investigative commission, and posts about the transfer of aid to the military and NGOs working with internally displaced persons.
The 185th district, which covers the territories of Henichesk and Kakhovka raions, is represented in the Verkhovna Rada by Servant of the People MP Volodymyr Ivanov.
Since 24 February, the MP has co-authored 34 draft laws or resolutions of the VRU, of which 11 have been adopted. Since the invasion, Ivanov has participated in 71.7% of the parliament’s votes.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the MP has deleted his Facebook page, and the only publicly accessible page has had its last post published in autumn 2021.
The 186th district, which is located in Skadovsk and parts of Kherson and Kakhovka raions, was represented in parliament by Servant of the People MP Oleksii Kovalov.
Kovalov’s story was widely covered in the media, as after the occupation of Kherson Oblast, the MP announced that he was in Russian-occupied territory. He missed all the meetings during the war, data on which are in the public domain. At the same time, on 8 March 2022, he co-authored draft amendments to the VRU Rules of Procedure on remote parliamentary sessions.
In the summer of 2022, Kovalov sided with the occupiers. At the end of August of the same year, the former MP was killed in the temporarily occupied Hola Prystan, where he was born and elected to the parliament.
MPs’ positions
It should be added that this regional sample was the smallest in the study and that the overall data excludes information about Oleksii Kovalov, an MP who was killed shortly after he began cooperating with the Russians.
The other two representatives of the region, Serhii Kozyr and Volodymyr Ivanov, who were included in the study, supported the restriction of the UOC (MP) activities in Ukraine. In addition, they are active in the session hall, with Serhii Kozyr’s voting record of 87% and Volodymyr Ivanov’s exceeding 70%.
Both MPs are active on social media, where they post information about parliamentary sessions, the humanitarian needs of civilians in the frontline regions and the needs of the Ukrainian military.
