The Parliament adopted a draft law on Daily Minute of Silence, says the Deputy Speaker Olena Kondratiuk
16 December 2025, 16:25
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted in the first reading draft law No. 14144 «On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Regarding Honouring the Memory of Compatriots Who Died as a Result of Armed Aggression by the russian federation,» which regulates the observance of a daily minute of silence at 9 a.m. The draft law was voted for by 314 members of the Ukrainian parliament.
This was announced by Deputy Speaker Olena Kondratiuk, who initiated the bill. Fifty-five other members of the Ukrainian parliament from all factions, including the Presidium of the Verkhovna Rada, co-authored the document.
When presenting the bill in the session hall, Olena Kondratiuk noted that the initiative was not only authored by members of parliament. «This is Iryna Tsybukh's bill. She is a posthumous Heroine of Ukraine, a hospital worker, a girl who will forever remain 25 years old. She began to rethink the culture of memory and the culture of honouring the dead,» said the Deputy Speaker.
According to her, this is also a bill proposed by activists from the public organisation «Vshanyu» (Honour), who promote a minute of silence every day at 9 a.m. «This is a bill proposed by thousands of mothers and fathers, wives, husbands, sisters and brothers, and children who have been left orphaned. It is so important for them to feel that the death of their loved one was not in vain,» added Olena Kondratiuk.
She stressed that many Ukrainian cities, businesses, institutions and government agencies have already joined the initiative of a daily minute of silence at 9 a.m.
«The culture of remembrance spreads not through coercion, but through gentle advocacy. And that is right. With this bill, we are creating the technical conditions and standards under which the Minute of Silence can take place. Amendments are being made to the Civil Protection Code of Ukraine, which give local authorities a free hand and allow them to use the nationwide warning system to announce the Minute of Silence every day,» said the Deputy Speaker.
In addition, according to her, in order to implement the provisions of the Presidential Decree, the Law «On the Principles of State Policy on National Memory of the Ukrainian People» is supplemented with a new section that regulates a unified approach to the organisation and dissemination of the Minute of Silence.
«Together, we are forming a new culture of remembrance and honouring those thanks to whom we live,» concluded Deputy Speaker Olena Kondratiuk, adding that, according to the procedure, the bill still has to be voted on in the second reading and as a whole.