There Is an Internal Typhoon within European Solidarity

“ES” is a parliamentary party that positions itself as the leadership project of the 5-th President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko. In the extraordinary parliamentary elections on 21 July 2019, “ES” received 8,10 percent, coming in behind the All-Ukrainian Union “Fatherland” and the now-banned OPZZh. The faction in parliament numbers 26 deputies. The defeat in the presidential election on 21 April 2019, in which P. Poroshenko received 27,45 percent of citizens’ support and lost to the incumbent head of state, V. Zelensky, hit P. Poroshenko and his loyal voters very hard.

The peak of active confrontation between Petro Poroshenko and the current authorities fell in spring–summer 2020, when court proceedings against Petro Poroshenko were underway. They were accompanied by protest actions whose participants were mostly party members and supporters of “ES.” According to the results of the local elections on 25 October 2020, “European Solidarity” placed fifth, trailing “SN,” the All-Ukrainian Union “Fatherland,” the “Opposition Platform — For Life,” and “For the Future.” According to other information provided by the Central Election Commission, “ES” placed fourth, overtaking OPZZh, receiving 3879 deputies and 9,36 percent versus 3845 deputies and 9,28 percent for the party of Dmytro Firtash and Viktor Medvedchuk. One of the reasons for ES’s defeat in the municipal elections, the Institute for New Social Development names the loss of positions in power, which led to a loss of interest among regional elites. This significantly affected personnel decisions, which drag the party’s rating down or keep it within 7–8 percent voter support. In earlier materials (see link 1 and link 2) we already mentioned the dark sides of “ES” that manifested in forming coalitions with OPZZh in the regions, and which also resulted in conflicts among parliamentarians. In particular, the conflict between ex-regional member Oleksiy Honcharenko and Mykola Kniazhytsky opened a “Pandora’s box” inside the party and revealed the intra-party climate. Tensions in the ranks of “ES” are growing. For example, the head of the Poltava regional organization, MP Nina Yuzhanina, voted for bill No.12414—effectively for destroying the independence of NABU and SAP—in July 2025, arguing that there was no choice. In her view, it did not pose as much of a threat as Ukrainian society believed when it took to the streets in protest to defend these law-enforcement agencies. Alongside N. Yuzhanina, the destruction of NABU and SAP was supported by Serhiy Alekseyev, who is a creature of Vitali Klitschko—the president of the Klitschko brothers’ fan club. His law firm “Alekseyev, Boyarchuk and Partners” is the main financier of the UDAR party. In 2023 he was detained on a bribe of 50 thousand dollars. He was supposed to help a German citizen avoid extradition. S. Alekseyev was released on bail. Scandals in the Poltava regional organization of “ES” began as early as 2020. Thus, in September 2020 party members from the Pyriatyn district chapter came to Poltava to picket the headquarters headed by N. Yuzhanina, but did not find her there. The reason was the personnel nomination of candidate Vasyl Voypanuk, who in 2019 actively supported Volodymyr Zelensky. Voypanuk himself publicly admitted his mistake and considered “ES” an alternative to the current authorities. Also, several other party members in Poltava withdrew their candidacies because the lists were filled with people who are not members of “European Solidarity.” After the elections in January 2021, a coalition was formed in the Poltava district council consisting of part of “Servant of the People,” as well as “Fatherland,” “ES,” OPZZh, and “Dovira,” which in full voted for the deputies who became deputies of Mykhailo Kononenko from Yulia Tymoshenko’s party. His deputies became Karina Dyachuk from OPZZh, Ruslana Bazaluk from “ES,” and Viktor Serbin from “SN.” A classic example of betraying voters, which consists of cooperating with ideological opponents. The most high-profile scandal related to “ES” in Poltava region occurred in June 2025. In Kremenchuk, at a meeting of the party branch’s leadership, a former deputy of the Kremenchuk district council in 2020–2024 from OPZZh, Andriy Drofa, entered it. The event itself took place amid scandal. Local activists and city council deputy from the regional “ES” organization Larysa Horeslavets were not allowed into the meeting by a private security firm called “Scorpion,” which is associated with Serhiy Horbatiuk and his fellow party member, regional council deputy and head of the regional OPZZh branch, Oleh Sazonov. The appointment of A. Drofa caused outrage among part of “ES” members in Kremenchuk.

There are personnel problems in “ES” also in the Rivne regional branch. Recall the mayoral race in 2020, where in the second round the “ES” candidate Oleksandr Tretiak defeated developer Viktor Shakirzyan from the regional party “Rivne Together.” It was the only regional center led by a nominee of Petro Poroshenko’s political force. After O. Tretiak’s victory, V. Shakirzyan became the city council secretary. In 2023 conflicts among party members intensified. Party members accused then-branch head, host of the “5 channel,” regional council deputy Vitaliy Haidukevych of authoritarianism and conflict with party members. In January of that year, the regional branch expelled Rivne city council deputy Fedor Mysyura, who is a serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The reason was his alleged violation of party discipline—namely the deputy’s oppositional voting and ignoring the decisions of the coalition composed of the “ES,” “Rivne Together,” and “VO Svoboda” factions, which is controlled by local developer and creator of “RT,” Roman Kurys. He is the one associated with V. Shakirzyan. Simply put, V. Haidukevych was satisfied from the start of his leadership of the regional branch with his colleagues’ cooperation with developers. It turns out that the confrontation between “ES” and “RT” was demonstrative, and the question of the coalition and the secretary position was agreed in advance. We must emphasize that authoritarianism in the regional “ES” branch manifested itself through blocking party members in a special chat, because some wanted to ask inconvenient questions of the leadership. In particular, some party members were outraged by the “ES”–“RT” coalition in the Rivne council. The leadership of the organization was also accused of failing to comply with the party statute, which provides for resolving issues at presidiums or councils rather than outside the party, and of nontransparent personnel politics about which rank-and-file party members were not informed. In February 2023 a People’s Deputy from “ES,” Oleg Syniutka, came to Rivne region to regularize the situation. He met with members of the regional “ES” branch. Presumably, this was prompted not only by complaints from party members about V. Haidukevych’s behavior, but also by the failure of an agreement with the higher party leadership regarding the removal of V. Haidukevych from the position of branch head. In March 2024 the Rivne regional organization voted at a conference to dismiss Vitaliy Haidukevych from the position of branch head. He also prematurely gave up his mandate as a regional deputy, and the branch was headed by his faction colleague Kateryna Samardak, who had been an assistant to People’s Deputy of the VII–VIII convocations Yuriy Voznyuk, who in 25 October 2020 unsuccessfully ran for the position of Rivne city mayor from “For the Future.” According to the YouControl system, today the acting head of the branch is Inna Dmytrenko. In conclusion, we should end with the words of People’s Deputy of the VIII convocation Hanna Hopko, who said that “parties are state institutions.” Unfortunately, that reality in Ukraine is still far off. The example of “European Solidarity” proves this. The problems that the deputies and heads of the party’s branches in “ES” have gotten into should make the voter of “European Solidarity” think about revising their political views. The people leaving the party are those who believed in its principles and its opposition to opponents, not cooperation with them. These are not all the scandals in “ES.” We selected the key scandals associated with those members, most of whom are part of the political council and presidium of “European Solidarity” and are the face of the political force.