Former Ukrainian Prime Minister and leader of the opposition Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party Yulia Tymoshenko faces charges of large-scale corruption. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has released a video showing its officers opening envelopes full of US dollars in Tymoshenko's office. NABU has also released a recording of a bribery agreement.
It should be noted that the former prime minister is well known for her involvement in corruption scandals. In 2009, she concluded a gas agreement with her counterpart, then Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, which was disadvantageous for Ukraine, for which she subsequently spent two and a half years in prison for exceeding her powers and signing an "economically disadvantageous and unacceptable" agreement.
She denies the charges
"More than 30 heavily armed men, without presenting any documents, effectively occupied the building and took the employees hostage," Tymoshenko wrote on social media, adding that her work phones, documents, and personal financial statements were seized.
The former prime minister said that investigators searched her party's office, condemning the raid as a "PR stunt" and a "political attack" that "has nothing to do with the law or legality." The opposition MP, who "categorically rejects all these absurd accusations," is the fifth big fish to be officially linked to the corruption case in a short period of time.
Most recently, on November 28, the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, resigned in connection with the search of his apartment and office by the anti-corruption agency and announced that he would go to the front—but he has not done so to date.
The Mindich case?
According to The Guardian, the investigation is not directly related to the money laundering and embezzlement case at the state-owned company Energoatom, which is linked to people close to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – partly because Tymoshenko is part of the opposition. However, it may be related to the political and social atmosphere that the Timur Mindič case has created.
"The accused initiated negotiations with some MPs on the introduction of a systemic mechanism for providing illegal benefits in exchange for loyal behavior during voting," said the NABU office, adding that these were not one-off agreements, but a regular model of cooperation that involved the transfer of bribes in advance to an account, with the amount planned for a longer period.
The Guardian notes that Tymoshenko "was one of the most vocal supporters last year of a highly controversial bill that would have led to the (de facto) dissolution of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) and NABU."
It should be noted that, thanks to unprecedented international pressure and the largest protests since the beginning of his presidential term, Zelensky was ultimately forced not to sign the bill.
Detention? Not yet
On January 16, the High Anti-Corruption Court (VAKS) did not send Tymoshenko to prison, but decided on bail of 33 million Ukrainian hryvnia, as well as the temporary confiscation of her foreign passport, which prevents her from leaving the country. The accused MP says she plans to appeal the court's decision.
She also stated that the audio recording, which is supposed to prove her involvement in an attempt to create a serious corruption scheme, is fake and that she never discussed bribes with Ihor Kopytin from Zelensky's Servant of the People party, who is also supposed to be on the recording.
"I declare categorically and unequivocally that Kopytin, in an effort to avoid criminal liability, handed over to NABU something that does not correspond to reality, just to show his merits to NABU. Or he did everything necessary to make it look like it was purposefully fabricated," Tymoshenko said in her defense.
Pre-election battle?
Tymoshenko suggested that her investigation is related to the upcoming elections. In early March 2025, it emerged that US President Donald Trump's team was allegedly secretly negotiating with Zelensky's political opponents, who would be more lenient towards Washington than the current Ukrainian president if elected to the presidency.
However, as several polls show, neither Poroshenko nor Tymoshenko would have a chance of winning the election. Poroshenko then stated on social media that although he was negotiating with the Americans, he was clearly against elections during wartime – Tymoshenko made a similar statement.
According to a December poll, Zelensky would win 22 percent of the vote in the first round of the presidential election, 21 percent of voters would vote for the ambassador to Britain and former chief of staff Valery Zaluzhny, and more than 24 percent of those surveyed would not know who to vote for at this time.
In the second round, however, Zaluzhny would receive 64 percent of the vote and Zelensky only 36 percent. If Zaluzhny did not run, Zelensky would lose in the second round with 44 percent of the vote in a contest with former head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense (HUR MO) of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov.