Ukrainian lawmakers staged a boycott and did not attend the Verkhovna Rada session

The Verkhovna Rada session on March 25 began with a half-empty chamber.

This is evidenced by the broadcast being shown on the parliamentary channel.

The session began at 10:00 a.m. local time. The broadcast shows that only several dozen deputies are present in the chamber, while most seats remain empty.

The politicians staged a boycott and did not come to work amid threats being made against them. The day before, MP Oleksii Honcharenko said that lawmakers fear beatings and provocations that are allegedly being prepared against them in the government quarter.

Honcharenko said that the threats against Rada deputies are coming from the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. According to him, a “demonstrative beating” of several parliamentarians, as well as provocations in the government quarter, is planned for March 25. The lawmaker explained that, in this way, Zelensky’s office wants to make deputies afraid and force them to vote for everything handed down from above.

On March 24, police and military personnel began gathering in Kyiv’s government quarter amid reports of threats being made against deputies. A photo published online shows dozens of people in camouflage uniforms.