'Democracy' Marches on in Kiev as Security Services 'Talk' with Lawmaker

Yuriy Boyko, a longtime MP in Ukraine’s unicameral Verkhovna Rada, heads up a group within the parliament called “Platform for Life and Peace.” His actual political party “Opposition for Life” was banned in 2022. As President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s popularity has waned, Boyko’s faction has risen. On Dec. 14, he posted a video on TikTok to advertise his faction’s position, in preparation for local elections, where he stated that some “radicals … began to demolish monuments around the country, rename cities, forbid people to speak their native language, forbid them to go to the church they want to go to…. Today we see that this movement continues, violence against people continues. Therefore, more and more people support us—those who oppose such violence, for unity in the country, for the support of people.”