Ukrainian MP Vitaliy Bort, who was elected from the banned “OPZZH” and currently belongs to the parliamentary group “Platform for Life and Peace,” has repeatedly arranged foreign business trips, yet spent most of his time with his family in Florida, USA. Since the beginning of 2024, Bort has officially traveled on business to various countries in America, but in reality, he primarily stayed in Miami, where his family owns property. Additionally, the MP coordinated a foreign vacation with the leadership of the Verkhovna Rada, despite the existing ban on officials traveling abroad for personal matters.
This is reported by Kyiv24
Business Trips and Stay in Miami
Over the past two years, Bort has frequently been absent from plenary sessions of the Verkhovna Rada and meetings of the budget committee, of which he is a member. Journalists discovered that the MP officially traveled to North, Central, and South America, but spent most of his time in Miami. For instance, in December 2024, he received permission for a business trip to Mexico to “deepen inter-parliamentary cooperation,” but he never went to Mexico — instead, he arrived in Miami on December 20, where he stayed for 10 days and returned to Ukraine only on December 31.
During another trip, for which permission was granted to Panama, Costa Rica, and Belize (October 12–27, 2024), Bort effectively visited only Panama, while spending most of his time again in Miami. On October 17, a meeting of Ukrainian MPs took place at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Panama, and by October 18, Bort had returned to Florida, where he stayed for another week.
Another business trip to South America was arranged for the period from July 27 to August 6, 2024. During this time, Bort was supposed to visit Chile, Argentina, and Paraguay, but by July 31, he found himself in Miami, where he remained until August 16. During this period, he missed a meeting of the parliamentary committee — the official reason given was vacation.
Property Abroad and Suspicions of Violations
Journalists established that Bort’s family owns an apartment in Miami measuring 175 square meters, registered under the name of his wife, Olga Bort, and daughter, Yana Bort-Shcherban. In October 2025, the MP was again in Miami for about two weeks and missed another meeting of the budget committee. This time, Bort officially informed the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Ruslan Stefanchuk, about his vacation abroad.
The last recorded visit of the MP to Florida occurred in January 2026, when massive Russian attacks on energy infrastructure were ongoing in Ukraine. During this time, Bort missed five plenary sessions of the Verkhovna Rada, including one where a nationwide moment of silence was established at the legislative level.
“Schemes” sent a request to Vitaliy Bort. The editorial team is awaiting a response.
It is also known that in 2023, Bort was already mentioned in journalistic investigations regarding foreign trips, when he, under the guise of three-day business trips, remained abroad for an additional month. Twice during such trips, he met with a Hungarian MP who is banned from entering Ukraine.
After the publication of previous materials regarding these trips, the Office of the Prosecutor General opened a criminal case for official forgery. However, even after two years, there are no public results of the investigation. The State Bureau of Investigations noted that the pre-trial investigation is ongoing, evidence is being collected, witnesses are being interrogated, and responses to international requests from competent authorities in several countries, including Hungary, Italy, the USA, and France, are awaited.
Vitaliy Bort is a people’s deputy of four convocations, voted for the so-called “dictatorial laws” in 2014, and supported holding a “referendum on the fate of Donbas” in Makiyivka. In 2024, he was included in the temporary investigative commission of the Verkhovna Rada regarding the use of funds for the construction of fortifications and the purchase of drones, but due to public outcry, Bort was removed from this commission.