Bezuhla rejoins “Servant of the People” faction two years after scandalous departure

People’s Deputy Maryana Bezuhla has rejoined the “Servant of the People” parliamentary faction — two years after leaving it.

This was reported by RBC-Ukraine, citing a Telegram post by People’s Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak.

“Marianna Bezuhla has rejoined Servant of the People. A return,” Zheleznyak wrote.

Bezuhla confirmed her return and explained her decision with two practical reasons. The first is the creation of a special commission on military justice: according to her, a non-faction deputy cannot chair such a commission, so faction membership has direct practical significance for her. The second reason is the need to have a stable right to participate in all meetings.

“I explained why I returned to ‘Servant of the People’: to create a special commission on military justice, which a non-faction MP cannot chair, and also to have a stable right to participate in all meetings — and of course not to stay silent there,” Bezuhla wrote.

At the same time, the deputy did not rule out that the return could be temporary. “Perhaps this is temporary,” she added.

Bezuhla left the “Servant of the People” faction in July 2024. She was elected to the Verkhovna Rada in 2019 representing that political force in a single-member constituency in Kyiv, so leaving the faction did not mean losing her parliamentary mandate.

Bezuhla’s public conflict with the military leadership began in the autumn of 2023, when she criticized Valery Zaluzhny, in particular over what she described as the absence of a clear war plan for 2024 and what she considered insufficient mobilization rates. After Alexander Syrsky was appointed commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Bezuhla continued to publicly criticize the military leadership and also made statements directed at the commander of the Joint Forces of the AFU, Yuriy Sodol, and the commander of the Air Force, Mykola Oleshchuk.

In February 2024, Bezuhla was expelled from the “Servant of the People” party, and in July she left the parliamentary faction amid a conflict with the leadership of the national security committee and her criticism of the AFU leadership.