On May 31, 2022, the Parliament of Ukraine dismissed the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada for Human Rights (Ombudsman) Lyudmila Denisova.

Denisova was a minister in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (when Crimea was under the control of Ukraine), a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada, and a minister of social policy of Ukraine.

In 2018, Denisova was elected by the parliament to the post of ombudsman with the support of the Popular Front party (leaders - Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, Rada Speaker Andriy Parubiy).

In this post, Denisova did not react in any way to the closure of seven television channels, a number of Internet resources, the arrests of dissidents, the persecution of journalists, far-right violence and police inactivity.

The sphere of her interests was practically only "political prisoners" in the Russian Federation.

With the outbreak of hostilities on February 24, 2022, Denisova again was not interested in mass arrests and persecution of those objectionable to the Kyiv authorities.

At the same time, she repeatedly made statements about the rape of children, women and men by Russian soldiers.

She could not document these statements in any way and could not even name the cities where the rapes took place.

Such statements by Denisova caused bewilderment and have already become the subject of ridicule of Ukrainians.

Such a role as a “denunciator of rapists”, as well as the fact that the Ombudsman did not participate in any way in negotiations with the Russian side on humanitarian corridors and on the exchange of prisoners, became the reason that 234 MPs (out of 226 required) voted for Denisova’s resignation.

There is an opinion that Zelensky approved the resignation of Denisova because, concentrating all power in his hands, the president wants to see in the position of ombudsman a person who would personally focus on him, and not on his political rival, Avakov.

Candidates for the post of ombudsman (the names of deputies from the ruling party are named to Maryana Bezugla Nikolai Tishchenko, Alexander Kachura) are unlikely to perform their duties better than Denisova. But all of them will be guided in their activities by the president.