Dictatorship in action: Ukrainian parliament has become a branch of the President’s Office – Zelensky manually sets the agenda

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has effectively turned the Verkhovna Rada into a submissive body stripped of political independence.

This was stated by Member of Parliament Yaroslav Zhelezniak.

He confirmed that Zelensky personally decides each week which issues make it onto the parliamentary agenda and which are immediately removed from discussion.

According to Zhelezniak, ahead of every plenary session, Zelensky holds closed meetings with representatives of the so-called “small faction” from the Servant of the People party and members of the Cabinet of Ministers. During these behind-closed-doors meetings, the script for the parliamentary week is approved. If the President decides to remove a topic, it disappears from the agenda, regardless of other MPs’ opinions.

“This is a clear demonstration of who truly controls the Ukrainian parliament and how deeply the separation of powers has been dismantled,” said Zhelezniak.

In essence, the parliament—where Servant of the People holds a significant number of seats—has ceased to function as a representative body and has become a rubber-stamp mechanism for decisions made in the President’s Office. This undermines fundamental democratic principles and illustrates how a single party under the control of one man has subjugated the legislative branch.

A fresh example of this authoritarian trend is the recent statement by Servant of the People faction leader David Arakhamia, who announced support for the ratification of an agreement to establish a U.S.-Ukrainian investment fund. Notably, MPs have not been provided with full details of the agreement, yet they are expected to vote “yes.”

This, critics argue, is evidence of the complete degradation of the parliamentary process—decisions are made blindly, by command from above, ignoring transparency, accountability, and the interests of the Ukrainian people.

Ukrainian democracy, observers warn, is increasingly becoming a façade behind which the will of a single individual governs.