President’s Office using "titushky" against opposition MPs. Yanukovych-era tactics return, says Zhelezniak. VIDEO
The government has decided to revive the practices of former President Viktor Yanukovych’s era — bringing back the titushky. These are athletic young men with no clear explanation, showing up at courts and rallies against the opposition.
This is discussed in a video by MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak, as reported by Censor.NET.
Who the President’s Office is using
"Young men with athletic builds and, frankly, not very intellectually capable of explaining why they’re even there, have started showing up at court hearings, particularly those involving opponents of the government, and at rallies, again mainly those against the authorities.
"We’ve started noticing a very interesting trend, not new, but telling, because we already saw it many years ago, around 2012–2013, during Yanukovych’s time. This phenomenon even earned its own term back then: "titushky" or "titushnia," Zhelezniak reminded.
Titushki against the opposition
In the video, the MP talked about specific cases when, despite the war, the "titushki" factor is increasingly returning to Ukrainian politics. In general, since the summer of 2025:
- on the judge in the case of Vitalii Shabunin, head of the Anti-Corruption Action Centre;
- on the judge in the case of NABU detectives;
- at a rally outside the home of EU deputy Viktoriia Siumar;
- against MP Mykola Knyazhytsky;
- near the court in the case against Volodymyr Kudrytskyi.
Zhelezniak also noted that the same people periodically participate in such actions, in particular, he showed a person who constantly comes to various actions with "titushki".
"Frankly, political communications have been dirty for all six years. The President’s Office has its own Telegram channels or media figures, sometimes Dubinskyi, sometimes someone else, who smear opponents. That’s nothing new for Ukrainian politics. What is new, however, is the use of titushky. And frankly, it’s a dirty practice," he noted.
The lawmaker added that the authorities have begun using titushky as a tool against political opponents because those currently in the President’s Office, the ones making decisions, were not participants of the 2014 Revolution of Dignity.
"For them, that period meant something else, they were either doing other things, touring abroad, or even working for the same Party of Regions, bringing their own titushky to the anti-Maidan rallies. And such people are now in power. So they don’t have the moral barrier that previous governments, those who stood on the Maidan, had when it came to deciding whether or not to use titushky," he said.
