“The brother of Shmyhal’s likely successor went to study in London during the war and never returned”, – Bezugla

The brother of Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Yuliia Svyrydenko — who is slated to become the next Prime Minister — left for studies in London during the war and has not returned. By age, he is subject to military service obligations.

This was reported on social media by Ukrainian MP Maryana Bezuhla.

According to her, Vitalii Svyrydenko is the head of the Chernihiv Regional Shooting Federation and, as of November 2021, when Russia was actively preparing for its invasion, he was in Ukraine issuing scholarship certificates to athletes.

“Officials are not responsible for their family members, especially when it’s not their children but parents, siblings. I agree — unless they were involved in helping the relative evade mobilization or in transferring family funds abroad. But if that’s not the case, an official must still be prepared to state their position and explain it. It would be morally right to have a state policy where the children or relatives of top officials visibly join the military and encourage citizens to do the same. We have some examples of that, but there is neither a communication policy nor audits of these schemes,” Bezuhla wrote.

According to Chernihiv media, Vitalii Svyrydenko was a regional council deputy and entrepreneur when he was appointed head of the regional shooting federation.