Verkhovna Rada considers moving to basement and remote voting due to air raid alerts

Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada is discussing changes to its working format in response to increasingly frequent air raid alerts: proposals include moving sessions to the parliament’s basement and voting via smartphones.

This was reported by the parliament’s staff and a number of members of parliament.

MP Olha Vasylevska-Smahliuk of the Servant of the People party said that more and more of her colleagues are talking about the need to move parliament’s work to a shelter in order not to be dependent on the alerts. According to her, sessions have already been interrupted on multiple occasions during the consideration of important matters precisely because of air raid announcements.

“Indeed, sessions have been halted many times during the consideration of important issues because of the alerts. As a result, the pace of approving bills, including those related to European integration, has dropped significantly. The next session week will be a hot one: we are due to consider a number of bills that will not only bring us closer to European integration but also help fill our budget with partners’ funds. With this many alerts and their duration, the mission is nearly impossible,” Vasylevska-Smahliuk wrote.

According to a number of media outlets, several rooms and corridors in the basement are already being fitted out for MPs, as it cannot accommodate all legislators. Some factions have expressed dissatisfaction with the proposed arrangements. In parallel, proposals have been made to introduce remote voting by phone.

MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak said that the Rada’s next session will be held in the usual format — in the parliament’s chamber. According to him, the Rada’s staff has already demonstrated a tablet and smartphone voting system to the parliament’s leadership, but no decision on its use has yet been made.

Meanwhile, a defense council meeting dedicated to reviewing security protocols in the capital was held in Kyiv. This was announced by Mayor Vitali Klitschko. In particular, city authorities together with the military intend to revise the organization of traffic on Kyiv’s bridges during air raid alerts. Various options are being considered: reducing the duration of restrictions, introducing exceptions to existing rules, or canceling them entirely in certain cases. Once a new protocol is developed, it will be submitted to the government for approval.

Klitschko also said that the capital’s defense council has appealed to the Cabinet of Ministers with a proposal to allow the above-ground metro to operate across the Southern Bridge over the Dnipro on the green line — the Syretsko-Pecherska line — during air raid alerts. This would allow the metro to run between the right and left banks during alerts, but only as far as the southern part of the left bank. The red line on the left bank will still not operate during alerts.

The capital has been experiencing regular transport gridlock during air raid alerts: the closure of bridges halts metro service between the right and left banks of the Dnipro. Previously, the Kyiv City State Administration also announced that the capital’s schools would change their teaching format amid the constant strikes.