Yulia Tymoshenko

Early life and career

Tymoshenko was born Yulia Hrihyan on 27 November 1960, in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union. Her mother, Lyudmila Telehina (née Nelepova), was born on 11 August 1937, also in Dnipropetrovsk. Yulia's father, Volodymyr Hrihyan, who according to his Soviet Union passport was Latvian, was born on 3 December 1937, also in Dnipropetrovsk. He abandoned his wife and young daughter when Yulia was between one and three years old; Yulia used her mother's surname.

Education

In 1977, Tymoshenko graduated from high school No. 75 in Dnipropetrovsk. In 1978, Tymoshenko was enrolled in the Automatization and Telemechanics Department of the Dnipropetrovsk Mining Institute. In 1979, she transferred to the Economics Department of the Dnipropetrovsk State University, majoring in cybernetic engineering and graduating in 1984 with first degree honors as an engineer-economist.

In 1999, she defended her PhD dissertation, titled State Regulation of the tax system, at the Kyiv National Economic University and received a Ph.D. in economics.

Commercial career

Tymoshenko has worked as a practicing economist and academic. Prior to her political career, she became a successful but controversial businesswoman in the gas industry, becoming by some estimates one of the richest people in the country. Before becoming Ukraine's first female prime minister in 2005, Tymoshenko co-led the Orange Revolution. She was placed third in Forbes magazine's List of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women 2005.

After graduating from the Dnipropetrovsk State University in 1984, Tymoshenko worked as an engineer-economist in the "Dnipro Machine-Building Plant" (which produced missiles) in Dnipropetrovsk until 1988.

In 1988, as part of the perestroika initiatives, Yulia and Oleksandr Tymoshenko borrowed 5,000 roubles and opened a video-rental cooperative, perhaps with the help of Oleksander's father, Gennadi Tymoshenko, who presided over a regional film-distribution network in the provincial council.

From 1989 to 1991, Yulia and Oleksandr Tymoshenko founded and led a commercial video-rental company "Terminal" in Dnipropetrovsk.

In 1991, Tymoshenko established (jointly with her husband Oleksandr, Gennadi Tymoshenko, and Olexandr Gravets) "The Ukrainian Petrol Corporation", a company that supplied the agriculture industry of Dnipropetrovsk with fuel from 1991 to 1995. Tymoshenko worked as a general director. In 1995, this company was reorganized into United Energy Systems of Ukraine. Tymoshenko served as the president of United Energy Systems of Ukraine, a privately owned middleman company that became the main importer of Russian natural gas to Ukraine, from 1995 to 1 January 1997. During that time she was nicknamed the "gas princess". She was also accused of "having given Pavlo Lazarenko kickbacks in exchange for her company's stranglehold on the country's gas supplies", although Judge Martin Jenkins of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, on 7 May 2004, dismissed the allegations of money laundering and conspiracy regarding UESU, Somoli Ent. et al. (companies affiliated with Yulia Tymoshenko) in connection with Lazarenko's activities. During this period, Tymoshenko was involved in business relations (either co-operative or hostile) with many important figures of Ukraine. Tymoshenko also had to deal with the management of the Russian corporation, Gazprom. Tymoshenko claims that, under her management, UESU successfully solved significant economic problems: from 1995 to 1997, Ukraine's multi-billion debt for Russian natural gas was paid; Ukraine resumed international cooperation in machine building, the pipe industry and construction; and Ukraine's export of goods to Russia doubled. In the period of 1995 to 1997, Tymoshenko was considered one of the richest business people in Ukraine. When Tymoshenko made her initial foray into national politics, her company became an instrument of political pressure on her and on her family. UESU top management faced prosecution. Since 1998, Tymoshenko has been a prominent politician in Ukraine. She was not included in the list of "100 richest Ukrainians" in 2006.

Political career

Early career

Tymoshenko entered politics in 1996, when she was elected to the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament) in constituency No. 229, Bobrynets, Kirovohrad Oblast, winning a record 92.3% of the vote. In Parliament, Tymoshenko joined the Constitutional Centre faction. In February 1997 this centrists faction was 56 lawmakers strong and, according to Ukrainska Pravda, at first it supported the policies of Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma. In late 1997, Tymoshenko called for impeachment and the next Ukrainian Presidential elections to be held not in 1999, but in the fall of 1998. In late November 1997, the General Prosecutor of Ukraine asked the Verkhovna Rada to lift Tymoshenko's parliamentary immunity, but the deputies voted against it.

Tymoshenko was re-elected in 1998, winning a constituency in the Kirovohrad Oblast, and was also number six on the party list of Hromada. She became an influential person in the parliament, and was appointed the Chair of the Budget Committee of the Verkhovna Rada. After Hromada's party leader Pavlo Lazarenko fled to the United States in February 1999 to avoid investigations for embezzlement, various faction members left Hromada to join other parliamentary factions, among them Tymoshenko, who set up the All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" faction in March 1999 in protest against the methods of Lazarenko. "Fatherland" was officially registered as a political party in September 1999, and began to attract the voters who had voted for Yevhen Marchuk in the October 1999 presidential election. In 2000, "Fatherland" went in opposition to President Kuchma.

From late December 1999 to January 2001, Tymoshenko was the Deputy Prime Minister for the fuel and energy sector in the cabinet of Viktor Yushchenko. She officially left parliament on 2 March 2000. Under her guidance, Ukraine's revenue collections from the electricity industry grew by several thousand percent. She scrapped the practice of barter in the electricity market, requiring industrial customers to pay for their electricity in cash. She also terminated exemptions for many organizations which excluded them from having their power disconnected. Her reforms meant that the government had sufficient funds to pay civil servants and increase salaries.

In 2000, Tymoshenko's government provided an additional 18 billion hryvna for social payments. Half of this amount was collected due to withdrawal of funds from shadow schemes, the ban on barter payments and the introduction of competition rules to the energy market.

First criminal persecution

On 9 February 2001, Tymoshenko founded the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (the National Salvation Committee merged into it), a political bloc that received 7.2% of the vote in the 2002 parliamentary election. She has been head of the Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) political party since its establishment in 1999.

On 13 February 2001, Tymoshenko was arrested and charged with forging customs documents and smuggling gas in 1997 (while president of UESU). Her political supporters organized numerous protest rallies near the Lukyanivska Prison where she was held in custody.

In a letter to the editor of the British newspaper Financial Times, Tymoshenko claimed that Kuchma was consciously building a totalitarian system in the country:

I believe that Mr Kuchma's regime may go so far as to eliminate me physically, not just politically, but I have made my choice and will continue to fight him by democratic methods. President Kuchma says I have committed a crime. My only "crime" has been to fight the corruption, shadow economy and totalitarianism that have been created by this president of Ukraine. Yulia Tymoshenko Prisoner of Conscience and Former Deputy Prime Minister, Ukraine.

On 11 August 2001, civilian and military prosecutors in Russia opened a new criminal case against Tymoshenko accusing her of bribery. On 27 December 2005, Russian prosecutors dropped these charges. Russian prosecutors had suspended an arrest warrant when she was appointed prime minister, but reinstated it after she was fired in September 2005. The prosecutors suspended it again when she came to Moscow for questioning on 25 September 2005. Tymoshenko didn't travel to Russia during her first seven months as prime minister (the first Tymoshenko Government).

Tymoshenko's husband, Oleksandr, spent two years (2002–2004) in hiding in order to avoid incarceration on charges the couple said were unfounded and politically motivated by the former Kuchma administration.

In March 2001, Pechersk District Court (Kyiv) found the charges groundless and cancelled the arrest sanction. According to Tymoshenko, the charges were fabricated by Kuchma's regime at the behest of oligarchs threatened by her efforts to eradicate corruption and institute market-based reforms. On 9 April 2003, the Kyiv Court of Appeal issued a ruling that invalidated and cancelled proceedings on the criminal cases against Yulia and Oleksandr Tymoshenko. Despite Tymoshenko being cleared of the charges, Moscow maintained an arrest warrant for her should she enter Russia. In 2005, all charges were declared groundless and lifted.

Role in the Orange Revolution

In late 2001, both Tymoshenko and Yushchenko attempted to create a broad opposition bloc against Kuchma, in order to win the Ukrainian presidential election of 2004.

In late 2002, Tymoshenko, Oleksandr Moroz (Socialist Party of Ukraine), Petro Symonenko (Communist Party of Ukraine) and Yushchenko (Our Ukraine) issued a joint statement concerning "the beginning of a state revolution in Ukraine". In the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election, the communist party stepped out of the alliance, but the other parties remained allied and Symonenko was against a single candidate from the alliance (until July 2006).

In March 2004, Tymoshenko announced that leaders of "Our Ukraine", Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and Socialist Party of Ukraine were working on a coalition agreement concerning joint participation in the presidential campaign. Tymoshenko decided not to run for president and give way to Yushchenko. On 2 July 2004, Our Ukraine and the BYuT established the Force of the people, a coalition which aimed to stop "the destructive process that has, as a result of the incumbent authorities, become a characteristic for Ukraine." The pact included a promise by Yushchenko to nominate Tymoshenko as prime minister if Yushchenko should win the October 2004 presidential election. Tymoshenko was actively campaigning for Yushchenko, touring and taking part in rallies all over Ukraine. After Yushchenko had dropped out of the campaign due to his mysterious poisoning, Tymoshenko continued campaigning on his behalf.

After the initial vote on 31 October, two candidates – Yanukovych and Yushchenko – proceeded to a runoff. As Tymoshenko earlier envisaged, Yushchenko received endorsement from former competitors who did not make it to the runoff, such as Oleksandr Moroz (Socialist Party), Anatoliy Kinakh (Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs), Kyiv city mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko and others.

On 6 November 2004, Tymoshenko asked people to spread the orange symbols (orange was the color of Yushchenko's campaign). "Grab a piece of the cheapest orange cloth, make ribbons and put them everywhere" she said. "Don't wait until the campaign managers give those to you".

When allegations of fraud began to spread, the "orange team" decided to conduct a parallel vote tabulation during 21 November 2004 runoff and announce the results immediately to people on Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti) in Kyiv. Tymoshenko called Kyiv residents to gather on the square and asked people from other cities and towns to come and stand for their choice. "Bring warm clothes, lard and bread, garlic and onions and come to Kyiv" she said. On 22 November 2004, massive protests broke out in cities across Ukraine: The largest, in Kyiv's Maidan Nezalezhnosti, attracted an estimated 500,000 participants. These protests became known as the Orange Revolution. On 23 November 2004, Tymoshenko led the participants of the protest to the President's Administration. On Bankova Street, special riot police prevented the procession from going any further, so people lifted Tymoshenko up and she walked on the police's shields to the Administration building.

First term as prime minister (February – September 2005)

On 24 January 2005, Tymoshenko was appointed acting prime minister of Ukraine under Yushchenko's presidency. On 4 February, Tymoshenko's premiership appointment was ratified by the parliament with an overwhelming majority of 373 votes (226 were required for approval). She is the first woman appointed Prime Minister of Ukraine.

The Tymoshenko cabinet did not include any other members of Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc besides Tymoshenko herself and Oleksandr Turchynov, who was appointed the chief of Security Service of Ukraine. The ministers who were working with her took her side in the later confrontation with Viktor Yushchenko.

On 28 July 2005, Forbes named Tymoshenko the third most powerful woman in the world, behind only Condoleezza Rice and Wu Yi. However, in the magazine's list published on 1 September 2006, Tymoshenko's name was not among the top 100.

In September 2005, Tymoshenko received the "Person of the Year of Central and Eastern Europe" award according to the 15th International Economic Forum in Krynica Górska.

Several months into her government, internal conflicts within the post‐Revolution coalition began to damage Tymoshenko's administration. On 24 August 2005, Viktor Yushchenko gave an Independence Day speech during which he called Tymoshenko's government "the best".

Yet on 8 September, after the resignation of several senior officials, including the Head of the Security and Defense Council Petro Poroshenko and Deputy Prime Minister Mykola Tomenko, Tymoshenko's government was dismissed by Yushchenko during a live television address to the nation. Yushchenko went on to criticize her work as head of the Cabinet, suggesting it had led to an economic slowdown and political conflicts within the ruling coalition. He said that Tymoshenko was serving interests of some businesses, and the government decision to re-privatize the Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant (previously owned by Kuchma's son in law Viktor Pinchuk) "was the last drop" that made him dismiss the government. On 13 September 2005, Yushchenko accused Tymoshenko of betrayal of "Orange Revolution" ideas. In his interview for the Associated Press, he said that during the time of her presidency at UESU, Tymoshenko accumulated an 8 million Hryvna debt, and that she had used her authority as prime minister to write off that debt. Tymoshenko has repeatedly stated that the mentioned amount was not a debt, but fines imposed by the Tax Inspection from 1997 to 1998, and that all the cases regarding UESU had been closed before she became prime minister.

Opposition and 2006 parliamentary election

Soon after Tymoshenko's discharge in September 2005, the General Prosecutor Office of the Russian Federation dismissed all charges against her. On 18 November 2005, the Supreme Court of Ukraine issued a ruling which invalidated all criminal cases against Tymoshenko and her family.

After her dismissal, Tymoshenko started to tour the country in a bid to win the 2006 Ukrainian parliamentary election as the leader of her Bloc. Tymoshenko soon announced that she wanted to return to the post of prime minister. She managed to form a strong team that started a political fight on two fronts – with Yanukovych's and Yushchenko's camps.

With the Bloc coming second in the election, and winning 129 seats, many speculated that she might form a coalition with Yushchenko's "Our Ukraine" party and the Socialist Party of Ukraine (SPU) to prevent the Party of Regions from gaining power. Tymoshenko again reiterated her stance in regard to becoming prime minister. However, negotiations with "Our Ukraine" and SPU faced many difficulties as the various blocs fought over posts and engaged in counter-negotiations with other groups.

After lengthy negotiations, SPU suddenly pulled out of the Coalition and joined the alliance with the Party of Regions and the Communist Party of Ukraine. Moroz assured that the team of Yushchenko was conducting secret negotiations with the Party of Regions. According to that deal, Yanukovych was supposed to become the speaker, while Yuriy Yekhanurov kept the prime minister portfolio. These negotiations were conducted by Yekhanurov himself upon Yushchenko's request. Later, Yekhanurov admitted this fact in his interview with the "Ukrainska Pravda" website.

Following the surprise nomination of Moroz as the Rada speaker and his subsequent election late on 6 July with the support of the Party of Regions, the "Orange coalition" collapsed. After the creation of a large coalition of majority composed of the Party of Regions, the Socialist Party of Ukraine and the Communist Party of Ukraine, Yanukovych became prime minister, and the other two parties were left in the wilderness. On 3 August 2006, Tymoshenko refused to sign the "Universal of National Unity" declaration initiated by Yushchenko. Signed by Yushchenko, Yanukovych and leaders of Socialist and Communist parties, the document sealed Yanukovych's appointment as prime minister. Tymoshenko called it "an act of betrayal". In September 2006, she announced that her political force would be in opposition to the new government. Our Ukraine stalled until 4 October 2006, when it too joined the opposition.

2007 parliamentary election

Following balloting in the 2007 parliamentary elections held on 30 September 2007, Orange Revolution parties had won majority of 229 votes of BYUT fraction (30,71% of the votes (156 seats) and the Our Ukraine/People's Self-defence faction. On 3 October 2007, an almost final tally gave the alliance of Tymoshenko and Yushchenko a slim lead over the rival party of Prime Minister Yanukovych, thanks in part to a vigorous BYuT campaign in the industrial east, a Party of Regions stronghold. Although Yanukovych, whose party won the single biggest share of the vote, also claimed victory, one of his coalition allies, the Socialist Party of Ukraine, failed to gain enough votes to retain seats in Parliament.

On 15 October 2007, the Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc agreed to form a majority coalition in the new parliament of the 6th convocation. On 29 November, a coalition was signed between the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc, which was associated with President Yushchenko. Both parties are affiliated with the Orange Revolution. On 11 December 2007, the Coalition failed in its attempt to appoint Tymoshenko prime minister, falling one vote short (225 members of parliament supported her nomination). On 12 December 2007, the media reported on the possible attempted assassination of Tymoshenko. BYuT and Tymoshenko herself said it was an intimidation. On 18 December, Tymoshenko was once again elected as prime minister (supported by 226 deputies, the minimal number needed for passage), heading the second Tymoshenko Government.

Second term as prime minister (2007-2010)

On 11 July 2008, the Party of Regions tried to vote no-confidence to Tymoshenko's government in the parliament, but could not collect enough votes.

The coalition of Tymoshenko's Bloc (BYuT) and Yushchenko's Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc (OU-PSD) was put at risk due to deliberate misinterpretation of Tymoshenko's opinion on the ongoing 2008 South Ossetia War between Georgia and Russia. Yushchenko's office accused her of taking a softer position in order to gain support from Russia in the upcoming 2010 election. Andriy Kyslynskyi, the president's deputy chief of staff, went as far as to accuse her of 'high treason'.

According to Ukrainska Pravda and Newswire.ca Tymoshenko expressed her solidarity with Georgia on 13 and 14 August, and later preferred to stay neutral on the issue as according to Constitution President Yuschenko headed foreign policy issues.

According to BYuT, Viktor Baloha (Chief of Staff of the Presidential Secretariat) criticized the premier at every turn, doing the dirty job for the President and accusing her of everything from not being religious enough to damaging the economy and plotting to kill him, and the accusation of 'betrayal' over Georgia was simply one of the latest and most pernicious attacks directed at the premier.

After Tymoshenko's BYuT voted alongside the Communist Party of Ukraine and the Party of Regions to pass legislation that would facilitate the procedure of impeachment for future presidents and limit the president's power while increasing the prime minister's powers, President Yushchenko's OU-PSD bloc pulled out of the coalition and Yushchenko promised to veto the legislation and threatened to hold an election if a new coalition was not formed soon. This resulted in the 2008 Ukrainian political crisis, which culminated in Yushchenko calling an early parliamentary election on 8 October 2008.

Tymoshenko was fiercely opposed to the snap election, stating that if Yushchenko and Yanukovych did enact a snap election, they will bear responsibility for the effects of the 2008 financial crisis. Initially, the election was to be held on 7 December 2008, but was later postponed to an unknown date. Tymoshenko had no intention of resigning until a new coalition was formed.

2010 presidential election

Tymoshenko was a candidate in the Ukrainian presidential elections of 2010, but lost that election to Viktor Yanukovych (Tymoshenko received 45.47% of the votes in the second and final round of the election, 3% less than her rival).

Having long being considered a possible candidate for President of Ukraine in the 2010 election, Tymoshenko announced that she would indeed compete in the upcoming presidential election in a statement broadcast live on national TV on 7 June 2009. Tymoshenko also stated that if she lost the presidential election she would not challenge the results. On 12 September 2009, a tour in support of Tymoshenko's candidacy, called "With Ukraine in Heart", began on Kyiv's Maidan Nezalezhnosti. Popular Ukrainian singers and bands took part in the tour.

On 24 October 2009, the delegates of all-Ukrainian union "Batkivshchyna" formally and unanimously endorsed Tymoshenko as their candidate for the next Presidential election. The 200 thousand congress took place on Kyiv's Independence Square. On 31 October 2009, the Central Election Commission registered Tymoshenko as a candidate for presidential election in 2010.

The Tymoshenko candidacy was also endorsed by prominent Ukrainian politicians such as Borys Tarasyuk, Yuriy Lutsenko, former President Leonid Kravchuk, the Christian Democratic Union, the European Party of Ukraine and others. Putin stated that he was cooperating with Tymoshenko as Prime Minister of Ukraine, but that he was not supporting her in the election.

Tymoshenko's campaign was expected to have cost $100 to $150 million.

Tymoshenko expected early parliamentary elections after the 2010 presidential election if Yanukovych won the vote, but she was against this.

On 1 December 2009, Tymoshenko urged "national democratic forces" to unite around the candidate who garnered the largest number of votes after the first round of the presidential elections. "If we are not able to strengthen our efforts and unite the whole national-patriotic and democratic camp of Ukraine... we will be much weaker than those who want revenge." On 5 December 2009, she declared she would go into opposition if she lost the presidential election. She also complained of flaws in the election legislation, and expressed her certainty that attempts were being made by her opponents to carry out vote rigging.

In opposition

During a nationally televised address on 22 February, Tymoshenko said of President-elect Yanukovych and "Yanukovych's team" (she referred to them in the speech as "The oligarchy"): "They need cheap labour, poor and disenfranchised people who can be forced to work at their factories for peanuts, they also need Ukraine's riches, which they have been stealing for the last 18 years." During the speech she also accused outgoing President Viktor Yushchenko of "opening the door to massive and flagrant election rigging" days before 7 February runoff of the January 2010 presidential election by amending the election law. During a Cabinet of Ministers meeting on 24 February, Tymoshenko stated, "The moment of truth has arrived: The decision whether or not to side with Yanukovych will show who values the preservation of Ukraine's independence and self-identity and who does not." Tymoshenko and her party, Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko, boycotted the inauguration ceremony of Yanukovych on 25 February 2010.

If the Second Tymoshenko Government could not be preserved, Tymoshenko stated on 22 February 2010, she would go into Parliamentary opposition. On 3 March 2010, the Ukrainian Parliament passed a motion of no confidence in the second Tymoshenko Government in which the cabinet was dismissed with 243 lawmakers voting in favour out of 450 (including seven lawmakers of Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko). (Prime Minister Tymoshenko had demanded this vote herself on 1 March 2010.) On 2 March 2010, the coalition had already lost the parliamentary majority. Before the vote on 3 March, Tymoshenko again stated, "If the dismissal of the government is passed today, at that very same moment our government will leave the cabinet. Our political force will cross into the opposition." Tymoshenko blamed the Lytvyn Bloc and "Our Ukraine, including the leader of Our Ukraine, who announced the position of the faction" for the fall of the cabinet. Tymoshenko resigned from the prime minister post on 4 March 2010. Fellow BYuT member Oleksandr Turchynov was empowered to fulfill the prime minister's duties until a new government was formed on 4 March 2010. On 9 and 15 March 2010, Tymoshenko called on "all of the national patriotic forces" to unite against Yanukovych.

On 16 March, the shadow government including BYuT was established. On 10 May 2010, the People's Committee to Protect Ukraine was established, of which Tymoshenko is one of the representatives. Tymoshenko was against the 2010 Ukrainian-Russian Naval Base for Natural Gas treaty, as she believed the agreement harmed Ukraine's national interests.

Second criminal persecution

On 15 December 2010, the General Prosecutor's Office instituted a criminal case against Tymoshenko, alleging that she misused funds received by Ukraine within the framework of the Kyoto Protocol. She was officially charged on 20 December 2010. Tymoshenko denied the money had been spent on pensions, insisting it was still at the disposal of the environment ministry. She called the investigation against her a witch-hunt. According to government officials, the criminal case against Tymoshenko was a legitimate attempt to uncover corruption by the previous administration. In the case of "Kyoto money" American experts "Covington & Burling" and "BDO USA" stated the following: "the Documents that we were able to see, clearly point out that the Kyoto Target balance account in the amount of approximately 3.3 billion on the date of receipt remained unchanged throughout the period that is considered, and that, moreover, Kyoto funds have not been touched at all in 2009. Since the balance of this account remained unchanged on the date of receipt, any accusations that Prime Minister Tymoshenko "used" these funds contrary to their intended purpose, are obviously false". On 7 August 2014, the Chairman of the State Treasury service Tatiana Slyuz confirmed that the Tymoshenko government has never spent "Kyoto money", the funds were on special accounts and in 2010 were transferred to the Yanukovych government. Tymoshenko was not arrested, but ordered not to leave Kyiv while the inquiry was under way. In the same case, the environment minister in the second Tymoshenko Government, Georgiy Filipchuk, was detained. Filipchuk was the third minister from this government to face criminal charges since its fall in March 2010 (prosecutors charged former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko with abuse of office in early December 2010, and former economy minister Bohdan Danylyshyn was detained in the Czech Republic in October 2010 on similar charges). Lawmakers of BYuT blocked the rostrum and presidium of the Verkhovna Rada the next day in protest against this. That same day, the European People's Party issued a statement in which it "condemns the growth of aggressive, politically motivated pressure by the Ukrainian authorities on the opposition and its leader Yulia Tymoshenko." Tymoshenko dismissed the probe as "terror against the opposition by President Yanukovych." Earlier that month, Ukraine's Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka had stated that there were no political reasons for the interrogations of the opposition leaders Tymoshenko, Lutsenko and Oleksandr Turchynov.

New corruption charges against Tymoshenko were filed on 27 January 2011. She was accused of using 1,000 medical vehicles for campaigning in the presidential elections of 2010. According to Tymoshenko, the charges were false and part of "Yanukovych's campaign to silence the opposition." Subsequently, in 2010, the results of the audit of the accounts chamber revealed that the acquisition of these vehicles was provided for from 2008 in the article 87 of the Budget code, the State budget-2009 and article 13 of the Law of Ukraine "On state target programs". In June 2011, the case on the "Kyoto money" and of medical assistance vehicles to the village were suspended — after auditing company "BDO USA", which has branches in over one hundred countries around the world, and a large law firm "Covington & Burling" investigated these cases and stated that they "are not worth the paper on which they are written."

New criminal cases and imprisonment

On 24 June 2011, a trial started in the "gas case", concerning a contract signed in 2009 with Gazprom to supply natural gas to Ukraine. Tymoshenko was charged with abuse of power and embezzlement, as the court found the deal anti-economic for the country and abusive.

Tymoshenko's trial (she was charged in May 2011) for abuse of office concerning a natural gas imports contract signed with Russia in January 2009 started on 24 June 2011 in Kyiv. A number of criminal cases were also opened against former officials from the second Tymoshenko Government. According to Yanukovych, those cases were indiscriminately made to fight corruption in Ukraine. Former President Yushchenko testified against Tymoshenko during the trial, which he called "a normal judicial process." The trial against Tymoshenko has been referred to as "selective justice" and "political persecution" in statements by the U.S., Russia, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain and other European countries; in statements by the European Union, NATO, the European People's Party; and in statements by human rights organizations such as Transparency International, Freedom House, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Following her conviction, Tymoshenko remained under criminal investigation for ten criminal acts; Ukrainian prosecutors have claimed Tymoshenko committed even more criminal acts.

Early in July 2011, the Ukrainian security service (SBU) opened a new criminal investigation into alleged non-delivery of goods by United Energy Systems of Ukraine (in 1996) to Russia for $405.5 million, the SBU maintains that Russia may claim this sum to the State budget of Ukraine (this criminal case was closed in Russia in December 2005 due to lapse of time).

On 11 October 2011, the court found Tymoshenko guilty of abuse of power and sentenced her to seven years in prison, banned her from seeking elected office for her period of imprisonment, and ordered her to pay the state $188 million. She was convicted for exceeding her powers as prime minister by ordering Naftogaz to sign the gas deal with Russia in 2009. Tymoshenko did appeal the sentence, which she compared to Stalin's Great Terror, on 24 October 2011.

A 2001 criminal case on state funds embezzlement and tax evasion charges against Tymoshenko was reopened in Ukraine on 24 October 2011. On 4 November 2011, the Ukrainian tax police resumed four criminal cases against Tymoshenko. She was charged for these cases on 10 November 2011. Tymoshenko was re-arrested (while in prison) on 8 December 2011, after a Ukrainian court ordered her indefinite arrest as part of the investigation of alleged tax evasion and theft of government funds (between 1996 and 2000) by United Energy Systems of Ukraine. Again, the EU showed concern over this.

Release and rehabilitation

Following the Revolution of Dignity, on 21 February 2014, Parliament voted for Tymoshenko's release in a 310–54 veto-proof vote. To do so, the members of parliament decriminalized the Article on which Tymoshenko was charged and brought it into compliance with Article 19 of the UN Convention against corruption. That could enable immediate release of Tymoshenko through the corresponding court ruling. However, Viktor Yanukovych fled the country after massive violent clashes in Kyiv that killed more than 80 people without signing the bill into law. On 22 February 2014, the Verkhovna Rada with 322 votes adopted a decree based on the decision of the European Court of Human Rights and corresponding decision of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

On the same day, Tymoshenko was released from Central Clinical Hospital No. 5 in Kharkiv, where she had been receiving treatment under police guard since May 2012, after being diagnosed with a spinal disc herniation.

Her release was praised by Western leaders.

On 28 February 2014, the parliament rehabilitated Yulia Tymoshenko and restored her rights. That enabled her to run for office; however, she has ruled out becoming prime minister again.

Kyivsky District Court of Kharkiv closed the criminal case on financial abuse of the United Energy Systems of Ukraine on 28 February 2014. And, on 14 April, the Supreme Court of Ukraine closed the "gas case" against Tymoshenko for "absence of a criminal act".

On 25 April 2014, the General Prosecutor of Ukraine launched a pre-trial investigation against a number of officials from its own office and the Pechersky district court and Kyiv's court of appeals (the judges who had sentenced Tymoshenko) because of allegedly "deliberate, systematic and flagrant violation of accused Yulia Tymoshenko's rights to defense, which are granted by Ukraine's current laws".

On 24 June 2014, the Supreme Court of Ukraine rehabilitated Tymoshenko.

On 22 January 2015, the European Court of Human Rights announced the termination of consideration of the case of Yulia Tymoshenko v. Ukraine in connection to an implied friendly settlement between the parties, after Tymoshenko's agreement with the government's declaration admitting that the criminal prosecution against her had been politically motivated. The Ukrainian government, in its exchange with the Court, had acknowledged a violation of Tymoshenko's rights guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights under articles 3 (prohibition of torture), 6 (right to a fair trial), 7 (no punishment without law), 8 (right to respect for private and family life), partly in conjunction with article 13 (right to an effective remedy), article 18 (political motivation), article 10 (freedom of expression) and article 4 of Protocol No. 7 to the convention (right not to be tried or punished twice). Taking note of the Ukrainian government's declaration and following measures, as well as of Tymoshenko's agreement with it, the Court struck out the application from its list of cases, as asked by the government, following article 39 of the convention (friendly settlements).

Renewed political activities

Immediately after her release from prison on 22 February 2014, Yulia Tymoshenko travelled to Kyiv, where she attended a makeshift memorial to the first slain protesters on Hrushevskoho Street and gave a speech on Maidan stage. In the following days, she had a number of meetings and phone conversations with USA, EU, and OSCE officials. Tymoshenko addressed the European Union, leaders of western democracies and of countries which guaranteed Ukraine's territorial unity according to the Budapest Memorandum; she called for action to stop what she called the "Russian aggression".

From 6 to 7 March, Tymoshenko attended a political conference of the European People's Party in Dublin, where she openly discussed events with Angela Merkel, Jose Manuel Barroso, Viviane Reding, Michel Barnier, Mariano Rajoy and Donald Tusk, amongst other notable figures. On 7 March 2014, she was admitted to the Charité hospital in Berlin, Germany, for treatment of her severe back problems.

Upon her return to Kyiv, Tymoshenko gathered military and defense experts and suggested launching a special headquarters that would elaborate responses to threats coming from Russia.

On 27 March 2014, at a press conference in Kyiv, Tymoshenko stated that she would run in the 2014 presidential election. Two days later, the congress of Batkivshchyna party, which took place on Sofia Maidan, officially nominated her and on 31 March the Central Election Commission officially registered her as a candidate.

The key theses of Tymoshenko's pre-election program were the eradication of corruption, the fight against oligarchs, the European path of Ukraine's development (in particular, the signing of the Association Agreement with the EU), countering Russian aggression, and restoring Ukraine's territorial integrity.

In order to win the presidential elections and the subsequent political struggle, Tymoshenko hired political technologist Tal Zilbershtein, who once advised ex-Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Olmert, to her team.

The election took place on 25 May. Tymoshenko came a distant second behind Petro Poroshenko, receiving 12.39% of the vote.

2019 elections and aftermath

The New Deal of Ukraine was an election program for the post of President of Ukraine, which was presented on 15 June 2018, by the leader of the "Fatherland" party, Yulia Tymoshenko. The program provided for amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine.

The program contained four blocks:

New social contract

New economic course

New World Strategy

Ecosystem of human life

On 20 June 2018, Tymoshenko announced that she would take part in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election. She was a heavy favorite in the polls until early 2019. Two weeks before the election, candidate Serhiy Taruta pledged his campaign-team would support Tymoshenko's campaign efforts (however, his name was not taken off the ballot, the deadline to withdraw having been exceeded).

On 8 February 2019, a new presidential candidate was registered with the same surname and initials as Yulia Tymoshenko – the non-factional people's deputy Yury V. Tymoshenko. It was done with the intention that the voters, especially older people, would make a mistake on the ballot. Tymoshenko herself called it a "dirty" move by Poroshenko]

For a long period before the start of the election campaign, Tymoshenko was the leader of opinion polls. The situation changed after the actor Volodymyr Zelenskyy's New Year's announcement of his intention to run for president, after which it was Zelenskyy who began to gain a rating, beating Tymoshenko at the end of January 2019. Later, during the entire election campaign, Tymoshenko shared 2–3 positions in the rating together with the current President Petro Poroshenko.

The first round of the election was held on 31 March 2019. With 13.4% of the vote, Tymoshenko came in third behind Zelenskyy (30.2%) and the incumbent Poroshenko (15.9%). While she conceded defeat, she also accused Poroshenko of manipulating the results.

Parliamentary and political activities (2019–2021)

In the 2019 parliamentary election, she led the Batkivshchyna list which came in third, with 8.18% of the vote and 26 seats in parliament. Tymoshenko became a member of the Parliamentary Committee on Social Policy and Protection of Veterans' Rights. Tymoshenko's activities in this session of the Rada focussed on opposition to lifting the moratorium on land sales and pushing for government action to lower energy prices.

At the start of the term, Tymoshenko's party supported a number of measures put forward by the ruling Servant of the People party. On the first day of the new session of the Rada, Tymoshenko's party supported the bill on lifting parliamentary immunity. On 3 September 2019, the Batkivshchyna party supported the referral to the Constitutional Court of a bill to reduce the number of deputies.

However, in November 2019, after the parliament passed a bill to lift the moratorium on land sales, Yulia Tymoshenko announced her transition to opposition to the ruling Servant of the People party. On 18 November 2019, Tymoshenko appealed to the Constitutional Court to immediately consider the petition for the bill on the "land market". In December 2019, Tymoshenko united more than 40 political and public organizations that oppose the sale of land in the National Headquarters for the Protection of Native Land. On 15 December 2019, the National Headquarters approved demands to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that it be necessary to postpone the adoption of "land laws", extend the moratorium and announce a referendum. The National Corps also joined the all-Ukrainian protest action initiated by the National Headquarters for the Protection of the Motherland. On 19 December 2019, Yulia Tymoshenko and Batkivshchyna deputies addressed the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine with a statement pointing to conflicts of interest and corruption in the Parliamentary Committee on Agrarian Policy during the consideration of the law on land sales.

In November 2020, Tymoshenko's party supported the all-Ukrainian SaveFOP campaign by registering Bill 3853–2 to simplify the taxation system for small businesses. Tymoshenko signed a memorandum of cooperation with the public movement SaveFOP.

On 11 January 2021, Tymoshenko called on the authorities to provide Ukrainians with gas at a price no higher than the purchase price. According to Tymoshenko, the price of gas should not exceed ₴3, in this regard, Batkivshchyna registered Bill No. 1177 in the Verkhovna Rada. On 27 January, Tymoshenko initiated a referendum on five issues: the supply of Ukrainian gas and nuclear electricity to the population with a 30% profitability; on the sale of agricultural land; on the sale of strategic property; the issue of legalization of cannabis; about the gambling business. At the same time, Zelenskyy criticized Tymoshenko's referendum, although he himself initiated a nationwide poll on 5 issues, as well as the strengthening of democracy in Ukraine. On 1 March, the Batkivshchyna party demanded that the Government stop importing electricity from Russia and Belarus to Ukraine and launch an investigation into the matter. According to Tymoshenko, the import of Belarusian and Russian electricity threatens the national security of the country.

Parliamentary and political activities (2022–present)

On 27 January 2022, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a resolution initiated by Tymoshenko to establish a Temporary Commission of Inquiry to investigate possible corruption that caused significant losses to the revenue side of the state budget, in particular as a result of NJSC Naftogaz. Tymoshenko became a member of this VSC. On 20 June, the Batkivshchyna faction, led by Yulia Tymoshenko, announced its opposition the ratification of the Istanbul Convention. Tymoshenko believes that the Istanbul Convention is not included in the package of requirements of the EU for granting Ukraine a candidate. She noted that the Verkhovna Rada went against the will of Ukrainians, because such an important issue should be determined at a national referendum. On 19 July, deputies of the Batkivshchyna faction prevented the theft of 264 billion hryvnias from the budget, which Naftogaz of Ukraine was supposed to spend on an opaque scheme for financing the purchase of natural gas for the next heating season. On 29 July during a working visit to Japan, Tymoshenko discussed the situation in Ukraine with Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike. On the same day, Tymoshenko spoke at a conference in Tokyo and called for the creation of a new stable security order in the world.

In late February 2022, Yulia Tymoshenko urged NATO and the United Nations to protect Ukraine by closing its airspace and deploying peacekeeping forces to the country. She later stated that Putin aims to recreate the Soviet Union, posing a threat to Eastern Europe, and emphasized that Ukraine's NATO membership is crucial for its security. In early March, Tymoshenko took custody of the Okhmatdyt children's hospital, donating medicines and helping evacuate sick children from Kyiv. She also established the Center for Humanitarian Aid to assist vulnerable populations and the Ukrainian military.

Throughout 2022, Tymoshenko actively advocated for Ukraine's integration into the EU and NATO, participating in various international forums. She met with European leaders to discuss Ukraine's humanitarian situation and global food security and spoke out against peace negotiations with Russia without the full restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity. Tymoshenko's international engagements included a call to rebuild the global security system and counter Russian disinformation.

In 2023, Tymoshenko continued her humanitarian efforts, raising funds for military hospitals and supporting wounded Ukrainian soldiers. She also took part in international conferences, advocating for Ukraine's needs and criticizing Russia's aggression. Her parliamentary activities included opposing legislation that would harm businesses and advocating for improved medical treatment and rehabilitation for soldiers.

2026 anti-corruption investigation

In January 2026, Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) initiated a high-profile anti-corruption investigation involving Yulia Tymoshenko, who at the time served as a leading member of the Verkhovna Rada and head of the Batkivshchyna parliamentary faction. According to sources cited by Ukrainska Pravda, NABU and SAPO were conducting searches at the Kyiv offices of the Batkivshchyna party as part of their probe, and reportedly uncovered a scheme in which the faction leader allegedly offered improper benefits to members of other political factions in exchange for their votes on draft legislation. The preliminary classification of the alleged offense under Article 369.4 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine pertains to offering or giving an unlawful benefit.

On 16 January, Tymoshenko appeared in the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine. She was barred from leaving Kyiv Oblast without NABU's approval and required to surrender international passports, and her bail was set at UAH 33 million. Tymoshenko denied the charges and said they were a political fabrication.

On 26 January the Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) partially changed Tymoshenko's preventive measure. The court allowed the leader of the Batkivshchyna party to move freely around Ukraine and communicate with members of parliament.

During the court hearing, Yulia Tymoshenko released a report on an expert analysis conducted by the international digital media analytics platform PrismVote Analytics 2025.

The experts analyzed the recordings provided by law enforcement agencies and concluded that they were not authentic.

Yulia Tymoshenko claims that the NABU audio recordings featured in her case are the result of editing and post-production. The conclusions of the independent expert analysis indicate traces of third-party interference in the audio tracks.

On 4 February 2026, Yulia Tymoshenko filed a complaint with the High Council of Justice against the judge of the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine, Vitaliy Dubas, for politically motivated decisions against her.

In absentia arrest in the Russian Federation

On 27 January 2026, the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation announced the arrest in absentia of Yulia Tymoshenko in reference to military “fakes.” According to the investigation, Tymoshenko, motivated by political and “ideological hatred and hostility” towards Russian military personnel, allegedly prepared and posted on her social media page a publication containing “deliberately false information about the Russian army's involvement in the killings of civilians” in Bucha and Irpin.

Political views

Foreign policy

Tymoshenko wants her country to become a member state of the EU, while also expressing concern about antagonizing Russia, saying: "I try to defend our interests so that we can find a balance in our relations both with the EU and Russia." Tymoshenko supports Ukraine joining NATO, stating it would be "uncomfortable" for Ukraine to remain "in a void, outside all existing security systems". According to Tymoshenko, the question of Ukraine joining any system of collective security would "be resolved only by referendum". Tymoshenko favours close relations with the EU, including the creation of a free trade area between Ukraine and the EU and later a full EU membership. According to Tymoshenko, "The European project has not been completed as yet. It has not been completed because there is no full-fledged participation of Ukraine." She opposes foreign intervention in internal Ukrainian affairs: "Ukraine's realization of its sovereign rights, forming a modern political nation, cannot be considered as a policy aimed against anyone." In 2010, Tymoshenko did not want to expand the lease contract of the Russian Black Sea fleet in Ukraine, saying: "The Constitution of Ukraine quite clearly stipulates that foreign military bases cannot be deployed in Ukraine, and this constitutional clause is the fundamental basis of the state's security." She also believes in "building a genuine civil society" as the best way to help democracy.

Tymoshenko wrote an article called "Containing Russia" that was published in the May–June 2007 edition of the journal Foreign Affairs. In the article she criticized Russian expansionism. Consequently, the article irked Russia and more than a week after the article was published, Russia responded by calling it an "anti-Russian manifesto" and "an attempt to once again draw dividing lines in Europe."

On 21 May 2016, Tymoshenko expressed hope that the EU will provide Ukraine a visa-free regime. Tymoshenko stressed that the Ukrainian state is there to protect the world all over Europe, continuing to fight the Russian aggression.

Internal affairs

Tymoshenko regards Ukraine as a "unitary and indivisible state". Tymoshenko considers separatist attitudes in Ukraine unacceptable: "Love one another, from Donetsk, Crimea, Luhansk, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Lviv, Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv and all the other corners of our native land." According to Tymoshenko, citizens in Russian-speaking Dnipropetrovsk already understood Ukrainian in Soviet times and that problems surrounding the Russian language in Ukraine were "exaggerated and don't exist". Tymoshenko opposes the introduction of Russian as a second official state language. On 7 April 2014, she stated she supported the 2012 language law which is aimed at giving Russian and other minority languages (if in a region the percentage of a national minority exceeded 10%) the status of regional language. About her own attitude toward the Ukrainian language, Tymoshenko has stated that "today I am thinking in Ukrainian... and the fact that I know Russian very well, I think it is not a secret for you... you all know that I was brought up in the Russian speaking region in Dnipropetrovsk, to my mind, I spared no effort to speak Ukrainian as soon as possible as I came in the Government."

The first Tymoshenko Government was in favor of transparent and honest re-privatization of 3,000 enterprises, as with the case of the Kryvorizhstal steel mill. Tymoshenko believes that Ukraine's economy is excessively monopolized. Tymoshenko is against privatization of the gas transportation system in Ukraine. Tymoshenko lists the salvation of the economy of Ukraine during the 2008–2009 Ukrainian financial crisis as one of her achievements. The second Tymoshenko Government has spent 1.6 billion hryvnya on modernizing the coal mining industry.

Tymoshenko wants to raise the general level of social standards by equalizing salaries in the industrial and social spheres, and pledged in November 2009 to revamp Ukraine's hospitals and health system within two years. She also pledged tax breaks for farmers. Other economic policies included compensation for depositors who lost Soviet-era savings, price controls on food and medicines to bring inflation down, and calls for a review of murky privatizations and high social spending. Tymoshenko wants to cut the number of taxes by a third to simplify the system, and wants to cut the Value Added Tax (VAT) and offer tax breaks to importers of new technologies to poor regions to boost investment there. In December 2009, the second Tymoshenko Government proposed creating independent anti-corruption bureaus in Ukraine.

Tymoshenko believes Ukraine can gain energy security and independence, and she wants to speed up exploration and extraction of oil and natural gas from the Black Sea shelf. Considering nuclear power provides almost 50% of the electricity supply in Ukraine, Tymoshenko's government agreed to cooperate with the company Westin to establish factory production of nuclear fuel in Ukraine, independent of Russia. She also suggested a 10-year tax break for enterprises that would develop alternative energy sources in Ukraine.

Electoral history

Family and personal life

Yulia Tymoshenko's mother, Lyudmila Mykolayivna Telehina (born Nelepova), was born on 11 August 1937 in Dnipropetrovsk. Her father, Volodymyr Abramovych Hrihyan, was born on 3 December 1937, also in Dnipropetrovsk. His Soviet passport gave his nationality as Latvian. His mother was Maria Yosypivna Hrihyan, born in 1909.

Ukrainian media have published speculation regarding the genealogy of Tymoshenko. Some of the hypotheses have no scientific evidence (for example, the hypothesis of the Armenian origin of the surname "Grigyan");

or could be designed to create negative publicity, although her Minister of Communications had in 2005 described her origins as half-Jewish, half-Armenian.

Yulia's paternal grandfather, Abram Kapitelman (Ukrainian: Абрам Кельманович Капітельман), was born in 1914. After graduating from Dnipropetrovsk State University in 1940, Kapitelman was sent to work in Western Ukraine, where he worked "one academic quarter" as the director of a public Jewish school in the city Sniatyn. Kapitelman was mobilized into the army in the autumn of 1940 and subsequently was killed while taking part in the Great Patriotic War (1941–1945) on 8 November 1944, with the rank of lieutenant in Signal corps.

About her ethnicity, Yulia Tymoshenko herself has said: "On my father's side – everyone is Latvian for ten generations, and on my mother's side – everyone is Ukrainian for ten generations." Tymoshenko's parents were both born in Ukraine and are, therefore, Ukrainian as defined by the Law on Citizenship of Ukraine and by the Ukrainian Constitution.

Tymoshenko has said that, like most Soviet citizens, she spoke only Russian in her childhood (although she studied the Ukrainian language and literature at school for ten years, as did all schoolchildren in Soviet Ukraine). In January 2010, Tymoshenko stated that in Dnipropetrovsk she did not have to speak Ukrainian until she was 36 (i.e. before 1996). According to Tymoshenko, her braids are a family tradition.

In 1979, Yulia married businessman Oleksandr Tymoshenko (born 11 June 1960). The couple have a daughter – Yevhenia (Eugenia) Tymoshenko (born 20 February 1980) – a graduate of the London School of Economics (Bsc "Government", Msc "Russian and Post-Soviet Studies").

Personal life

Tymoshenko and her husband rent a house in Kyiv and own an apartment in Dnipro. Houses in Dnipro belong to their relatives. Tymoshenko has declared she never used and will never use or move into a state-owned summer house, in contrast with all former-Presidents and many high-ranking officials of Ukraine, who live in state-owned dachas in Koncha-Zaspa. According to Ukrainian media, Tymoshenko lives in an estate in Koncha-Zaspa, "rented from a friend". In March 2014, Tymoshenko opened the door of her house to public activists and guided them around.

In her spare time, before she was imprisoned, Tymoshenko ran on a treadmill for exercise and listened to the music of Andrea Bocelli, Sarah Brightman, Anna Netrebko and Alessandro Safina. Ukrainska Pravda and Left Bank are her favourite news sources. Tymoshenko stated that she watched the Tunisian Revolution and Egyptian Revolution of 2011 "with joy and admiration".

On 23 August 2020, Tymoshenko tested positive for COVID-19 and was hospitalized in serious condition, with one of her spokespeople saying that "her condition is assessed as serious, her temperature is up to 39 [Celsius (102 °F)]". On 25 August, Tymoshenko was moved to the intensive care unit after her health worsened and prompted a transfer, a spokeswoman said, adding that she remains in "serious condition." On 2 September, Tymoshenko announced through her Facebook account that "Finally today, my crisis condition is behind. And although recovery is still a distant prospect, now there is an opportunity to return to normal life, step by step," adding "that fighting off a serious disease for almost two weeks alters the perception of reality". On 11 September Tymoshenko's press secretary Maryna Soroka announced that Tymoshenko had tested negative for COVID-19.

Cultural and political image

Tymoshenko is a voluble public performer. Her fiery rhetoric made her an icon of the Orange Revolution. Tymoshenko's visual image, especially her trademark hairstyle, has been claimed by one of her political consultants to be inspired by the figure of Ukrainian poetess and political activist Lesya Ukrainka. While interpreted by some as a sign of emancipation, Tymoshenko's emphasis on her outward looks as an instrument of gaining support has led some critics to accuse her of sexualization of politics.

Tymoshenko's critics have claimed her to be an oligarch and accused her of acquiring her funds in an improper way. These accusations were backed by her ties to Ukrainian prime minister and convicted criminal Pavlo Lazarenko. However, prosecutors in Lazarenko's case have dismissed any connection between his illegal operations and Tymoshenko. Despite this, discrepancies between Tymoshenko's officially declared income and her actual lifestyle have been noted by the Ukrainian press.

Several prominent Ukrainian politicians, including former president Viktor Yushchenko, have accused Tymoshenko of populism, authoritarian tendencies and working in the interest of Russia. On the other hand, Tymoshenko has been praised as a patriot and promoter of Ukraine's sovereignty by foreign leaders such as Vladimir Putin and Javier Solana, and was described as an "effective politician" and "extravagant woman" by some of her political opponents from the pro-Russian Party of Regions.

In 2005 Tymoshenko was ranked by Forbes as the world's third most powerful woman, behind Condoleezza Rice and Wu Yi. According to the Ukrainian magazine Focus, Tymoshenko placed first in an annual ranking of the most influential women in Ukraine in 2006–2010. In December 2011, Tymoshenko's party BYuT-Batkivschyna nominated her for the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2012 a national rating by the Razumkov Center and the "Foundation for Democratic Initiatives" recognized Yulia Tymoshenko to be the best prime minister in history of Ukraine.

According to the sociological group "Rating" Yulia Tymoshenko was ranked as third most trusted politician in early April 2021, behind President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and then-Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Dmytro Razumkov. However, since 2022, Tymoshenko's trust ratings have declined sharply, and in May 2025, a KIIS poll showed Tymoshenko had the second-highest net distrust rating among Ukrainian politicians, second only to Oleksii Arestovych. A July 2025 survey by "Rating" ranked her as public figure with the highest net distrust.

Honours

Nominations

In December 2011, Tymoshenko's party BYuT-Batkivschyna nominated her for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Awards

Order of Saint Varvara, Great Martyr from Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate (1998)

Third-most powerful woman in the world, rating by Forbes magazine (July 2005)

"Person of the year in Central and Eastern Europe" award at International Economic Forum in Krynica-Zdrój, Poland (September 2005)

"Prix de la fondation Crans Montana" award for efficient governance and anti-corruption campaign at the annual session of the Crans Montana Forum (December 2005)

"For Political Courage" by French magazine "Politique internationale"; it was the first award given to a Ukrainian nominee over the last 25 years of the magazine's history (March 2007)

Award by American NGO Conservative Political Action Conference for contribution to democracy development. (March 2007)

"Shakhtarska Slava" award on Coalminer Day in Luhansk (2008)

The Order of the Holy Sepulchre award from the Jerusalem Orthodox Church, given to Tymoshenko by Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem (October 2008)

The Saint Andrew the First-Called Order of II degree (the highest church award of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate) from Apostolic Patriarch of Ukraine Philaret (2011)

The Pope Boniface VIII International Award (October 2012). (The first person to receive the award was Pope John Paul II.)

Manuel Carrasco Formiguera medal for her contribution to the defense of democracy and freedom and the struggle for the restoration of the rule of law in Ukraine, awarded by the Democratic Union of Catalonia party (July 2013).