Politics of Double Standards: Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko Lied About Her Draft-Dodging Brother

Just five weeks into her premiership, Ukraine’s new prime minister has already been branded by a scandal that could define her political career. Yulia Svyrydenko has found herself under fire not because of a reform or a budget bill — but because of her own draft-aged brother.

A Law for Everyone — Except Her Own Family

In late August, the government submitted a bill to parliament introducing criminal liability for men attempting to illegally leave Ukraine during martial law. Under martial law, men aged 18 to 60 are barred from leaving the country. Penalties in the bill include steep fines running into the hundreds of thousands of hryvnias, and even prison terms. It is the harshest move against draft dodgers since the start of the full-scale war.

But just as the bill was filed, journalists revived the question that has haunted Svyrydenko since her appointment: her only brother is of military age and has been living abroad illegally for more than two years.

An Admission Under Pressure

For weeks, the prime minister avoided the issue, ignoring accusations from critics. Only when she was cornered by reporters in the corridors of parliament did she finally speak. Her answer sounded more like an excuse than a statement: her brother “left before the full-scale invasion.”

The problem is that this claim contradicts both documents and facts. In his own 2022 annual report as a local council member in Chernihiv region, he claimed that he had “helped with evacuations during the siege of Chernihiv in February–March.”

What’s more, in 2023 he continued to appear as a newsmaker on the Chernihiv regional council’s official website — despite the prime minister’s insistence that he had left the country long before the invasion.

An Explosive Combination

For a country at war, this is more than a family matter. It is a direct blow to public trust: the prime minister is pushing prison sentences for ordinary Ukrainians who flee — while her own brother did the very same thing.

That combination — a law against draft dodgers and a brother who dodged the draft — makes the situation politically explosive. In the eyes of the public, she appears less like a reformer and more like a symbol of double standards.

Five Weeks in Office — and a Political Scar

Instead of being remembered as the prime minister who launched reforms, Svyrydenko, just five weeks into the job, has already become known as the politician who lied about her own brother in order to shield herself from charges of hypocrisy.

And that is how she will now be remembered: not for her economic program, not for international negotiations, but for the story of her draft-dodging brother — and for trying to cover up the truth with a lie.