Юлия Тимошенко: Украинаның екі мәрте премьер-министрі

10th and 13th prime minister of Ukraine

Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko (Юлія Володимирівна Тимошенко, ; Hrihyan (Грігян); born 27 November 1960) is a Ukrainian politician, who served as Prime Minister of Ukraine in 2005, and again from 2007 until 2010; the first and only woman in Ukraine to hold that position. She has been a member of the Verkhovna Rada as People's Deputy of Ukraine several times between 1997 and 2007, and presently as of 2014, and was First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for the fuel and energy complex from 1999 to 2001. She has a degree in Candidate of Economic Sciences. Tymoshenko is the leader of the Batkivshchyna (Батьківщина) political party. She supports Ukraine's integration into the European Union and strongly opposes the membership of Ukraine in the Russia led Eurasian Customs Union. She supports NATO membership for Ukraine. She co led the Orange Revolution and was the first woman twice appointed and endorsed by parliamentary majority to become prime minister, serving from 24 January to 8 September 2005, and again from 18 December 2007 to 4 March 2010. She placed third in Forbes magazine's list of the world's most powerful women in 2005. Tymoshenko finished second in the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election runoff, losing by 3.5 percentage points to the winner, Viktor Yanukovych. From 2011 to 2014 she was detained due to a criminal case that was seen by many as politically motivated persecution by President Viktor Yanukovych, but after the Revolution of Dignity she was rehabilitated by the Supreme Court of Ukraine and the European Court of Human Rights. she came third in the first round of the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election, receiving 13.40% of the vote, thus failing to qualify for the second round. Elected to the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament) in 2019, she led her party in opposition.

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 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. 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, 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, She officially left parliament on 2 March 2000. 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. On 18 August 2000, Oleksandr Tymoshenko, CEO of United Energy Systems of Ukraine (UESU) and Yulia Tymoshenko's husband, was detained and arrested. Tymoshenko herself stated that her husband's arrest was the result of political pressure on her. On 19 January 2001, President Leonid Kuchma ordered Yulia Tymoshenko to be dismissed. Then, Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko silently accepted her dismissal, despite her achievements in the energy sector. Ukrainian media called it "the first betrayal of Viktor Yushchenko". Soon after her dismissal, Tymoshenko took leadership of the National Salvation Committee and became active in the Ukraine without Kuchma protests. The movement embraced a number of opposition parties, such as Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, "Fatherland", Ukrainian Republican Party, Ukrainian Conservative Republican Party, "Sobor", Ukrainian Social Democratic Party, Ukrainian Christian Democratic Party and Patriotic Party.

In the Autumn of 2001, both Tymoshenko and Viktor Yushchenko attempted to create a broad opposition bloc against the incumbent president, Leonid Kuchma, in order to win the Ukrainian presidential election of 2004. (until July 2006). In March 2004, Tymoshenko announced that leaders of "Our Ukraine", BYuT 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 Viktor Yushchenko. On 2 July 2004, Our Ukraine and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc 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 Viktor 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 Viktor 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 – Viktor Yanukovych and Viktor Yushchenko – proceeded to a runoff. As Tymoshenko earlier envisaged, Yushchenko received endorsement from former competitors who didn't make it to the runoff, such as Oleksandr Moroz (Socialist Party), Anatoliy Kinakh (Party of Industrials and Entrepreneurs), former Kyiv city mayor Oleksanrd 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. On 3 December 2004, the Supreme Court of Ukraine invalidated the results of the runoff and scheduled the re run for 26 December 2004. After the cancellation of Viktor Yanukovych's official victory and the second round of the election, Viktor Yushchenko was elected president with 51.99% of votes (Yanukovych received 44.2% support). During the protests, Tymoshenko's speeches on the Maidan kept the momentum of the street protests going. Her popularity grew significantly to the point where the media began to refer to her as the Ukrainian or Slavic "Joan of Arc" as well as "Queen of the Orange revolution" in addition to her pre existing sobriquet from the 1990s decade as the "Gas Princess". Additional nicknames included "Goddess of the Revolution" and the "Princess Leia of Ukrainian politics". She is the first woman appointed Prime Minister of Ukraine. The Tymoshenko cabinet did not have any other members of party 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 Krinitsa Gurska. 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 President Viktor 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. 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. Tymoshenko blamed Yushchenko's closest circle for scheming against her and undermining the activities of her Cabinet. She also criticised Yushchenko, telling the BBC that he had "practically ruined our unity, our future, the future of the country", without rooting out corruption as he pledged to do and that the president's action was absolutely illogical. At the time, Tymoshenko saw a rapid growth of approval ratings, while president Yushchenko's approval ratings went down. This tendency was later proved by the results of parliamentary elections in 2006, when for the first time ever BYuT outran "Our Ukraine" party, winning 129 seats vs. 81, respectively. During the previous parliamentary elections of 2002, BYuT had only 22 members of parliament, while "Our Ukraine" had 112. The work of Yulia Tymoshenko as prime minister in 2005 was complicated due to internal conflicts in the "orange" team. Tymoshenko was succeeded as prime minister by Yuriy Yehanurov. 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 Viktor Yanukovych's and Viktor 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. 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. On 21 June 2006, the Ukrainian media reported that the parties had finally reached a coalition agreement, which appeared to have ended nearly three months of political uncertainty. Tymoshenko's nomination and confirmation as the new prime minister was expected to be straightforward. However, the political intrigue that took place broke the plan. BYuT partners "Our Ukraine" and Socialist Party of Ukraine (SPU) could not come to agreement regarding distribution of powers, thus creation of the Coalition of Democratic Forces was put on hold. Yushchenko and oligarchs from his narrow circle were trying to impede Tymoshenko from returning to the office of prime minister. Her nomination was preconditioned on the election of her long time rival Petro Poroshenko from "Our Ukraine" to the position of speaker of the parliament. Oleksandr Moroz, the chairman of the Socialist Party of Ukraine, also expressed his interest in becoming speaker. Tymoshenko stated that she would vote for any speaker from the coalition. since they considered it a deviation from parliamentary procedures to hold a simultaneous vote on Poroshenko as the speaker and Tymoshenko as prime minister. The Party of Regions announced an ultimatum to the coalition demanding that parliamentary procedures be observed, asking that membership in parliamentary committees be allocated in proportion to seats held by each fraction, and demanding chairmanship in certain Parliamentary committees as well as Governorships in the administrative subdivisions won by the Party of Regions. The Party of Regions complained that the coalition agreement deprived the Party of Regions and the communists of any representation in the executive and leadership in parliamentary committees, while in the local regional councils won by the Party of Regions the coalition parties were locked out of all committees as well. Members from the Party of Regions blocked the parliament from 29 June through 6 July. 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. Oleksandr Moroz assured that the team of Viktor Yushchenko was conducting secret negotiations with the Party of Regions. According to that deal, Viktor 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 Oleksandr Moroz from the Socialist Party of Ukraine as the Rada speaker and his subsequent election late on 6 July with the support of the Party of Regions, the "Orange coalition" collapsed. (Poroshenko had withdrawn his candidacy and had urged Moroz to do the same on 7 July). 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 president Yushchenko. The document, signed by Yushchenko, Yanukovych and leaders of Socialist and Communist parties, sealed Yanukovych's appointment as prime minister. Tymoshenko called it "the act of betrayal". In September 2006, Tymoshenko 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. On 12 January 2007, a BYuT vote in the parliament overrode the president's veto of the "On the Cabinet of Ministers" law that was advantageous for the president. (In exchange, BYuT voted for the "On Imperative Mandate" and "On Opposition" laws). This vote was one of many steps undertaken by BYuT to ruin a fragile alliance between president Yushchenko and prime minister Yanukovych. In March 2007, Yulia Tymoshenko traveled to the United States, where she held high level meetings with Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Stephen Hadley, the National Security Advisor under President George W. Bush. On 31 March 2007, Tymoshenko initiated a "100 thousand people Maidan" aimed to urge the president to call an early parliamentary election. On 4 April 2007, president Yushchenko issued an edict "On early termination of duties of the Verkhovna Rada" as a reaction to violation of the Constitution by the Party of Regions, which had started dragging individual deputies into the "ruling coalition" (this being illegal, as coalitions should be formed by factions and not by individual deputies). In doing so, the Party of Regions was trying to achieve a constitutional majority of 300 votes which would enable prime minister Yanukovych to override the president's veto and control the legislative process. Party of Regions didn't obey this edict. In order to dismiss the Verkhovna Rada, Yulia Tymoshenko and her supporters in the parliament (168 deputies from BYuT and "Our Ukraine" factions) quit their parliamentary factions on 2 June 2007. That step invalidated the convocation of the Verkhovna Rada and cleared the path to an early election. An early parliamentary election was held on 30 September 2007.

[[File:Vladimir Putin and Yulia Tymoshenko 1. jpg|thumb|Yulia Tymoshenko and Vladimir Putin meeting on 19 March 2005. In November 2009, Putin praised Tymoshenko's political choices and stated that he found it comfortable to work with her. On 3 October 2007, an almost final tally gave the alliance of Tymoshenko and President 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 Yulia 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.

On 18 January 2013, Tymoshenko was notified that she was a suspect in the murder of businessman and lawmaker Yevhen Shcherban, his wife and two other people in 1996. In May 2013, the Shcherban murder case was suspended. From 25 November to 6 December 2013 (during the Euromaidan protests), Tymoshenko was again on a hunger strike in protest of "President Yanukovych's reluctance to sign the DCFTA" on 6 December.

thumb|Yulia Tymoshenko in 2011. On 24 October 2011, Tymoshenko filed an appeal to the decision of Pechersk district court of Kyiv regarding the "gas case". On 1 December, the Kyiv Court of Appeal started hearing the case. Tymoshenko herself was not present in the courtroom because of her health condition. After the hearing, the judge, Olena Sitaylo, had to call an ambulance and was hospitalized. On 13 December 2011, the Kyiv Court of Appeal resumed the hearing. All subsequent court sessions took place without Tymoshenko's presence. Immediately prior to the hearing of the appeal, the board of judges was altered: Sitaylo, the chief justice, was appointed the day before the first hearing; other justices were appointed several days prior to the court session. Thus, the judges did not have time to study the 84 page case log. The manner of the process proved that the decision to alter the board of judges was made beforehand. At the very end, Tymoshenko's defense boycotted the court session. On 23 December 2011, the Kyiv Court of Appeal issued a ruling which fully supported the verdict of the Pechersk court. The judges didn't find any violations during the pre trial investigation or trial on the "gas case", overruling the claims of Tymoshenko's defense.

On 26 January 2012, Tymoshenko's defense submitted a cassation appeal to the High Specialized Court for Civil and Criminal Cases regarding the "gas case" verdict. On 16 August 2012, after a 7 month delay that impeded filing the case to the European Court of Human Rights, the panel of judges of the aforementioned court began hearing the case. The panel finished hearing the case on 21 August and went to the jury room to make decision. The ruling of the Court, issued on 29 August 2012, stated that the appeal of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko's defense on the "gas case" should not be satisfied. Media, diplomats, members of parliament and members of an EU special monitoring mission, Pat Cox and Aleksander Kwaśniewski, attended the court sessions. The ruling was announced on the day following public hearing of "Tymoshenko vs Ukraine" (regarding unlawful arrest of ex prime minister and holding her in custody) case at the European Court of Human Rights. The European Union, PACE, and governments of the United States, Great Britain and Canada expressed frustration with the cassation ruling. "We are deeply disappointed with the consequences of the current situation, when two important opposition leaders cannot stand in the upcoming parliamentary elections, [and] when the court disrespects international standards for fair and transparent processes", a representative of the European Commission, Michael Mann, said in Brussels on 29 August 2012.

The "gas case" trial was viewed by many European and American organizations as a politically charged persecution that violates the law. The European Union and multiple international organizations see the conviction as "justice being applied selectively under political motivation." In June 2012, the European Parliament established a special monitoring mission to Ukraine, conducted by former European Parliament President Pat Cox and former Polish President Aleksander Kwaśniewski. Both politicians observed trials, repeatedly visited Tymoshenko in custody and conducted meetings with Ukraine's authorities regarding her release. The European Union shelved the European Union Association Agreement and Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with the Ukrainian government over the issue. On 30 April 2013, the European Court of Human Rights issued a judgment asserting that "Ms. Tymoshenko's pre trial detention had been arbitrary; that the lawfulness of her detention had not been properly reviewed; and, that she had no possibility to seek compensation for her unlawful deprivation of liberty." Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has adopting a resolution on "Keeping political and criminal responsibility separate" in which former prime minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko is recognized as a political prisoner. The United States Senate passed two resolutions calling for the release from prison of former prime minister Tymoshenko. The most recent, presented in the Senate in June 2013, called for Tymoshenko's release in light of the recent European Court of Human Rights ruling, and was adopted on 18 November 2013. An earlier resolution, passed in 2012, condemned the politically motivated prosecution and imprisonment of former prime minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko. On 2 October 2013, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a resolution calling for the immediate release of Tymoshenko and, two days later, Pat Cox and Aleksander Kwaśniewski, representatives of the European Parliament mission, handed president Yanukovych a petition to pardon Tymoshenko. In December 2012, the united opposition nominated her and later in June 2013 confirmed her as its candidate in the 2015 Ukrainian presidential election.

On March 27, 2014, at a press conference in Kyiv, Yulia Tymoshenko announced her decision to run for president. On March 29, the "Batkivshchyna" congress, which took place on Sofia Maidan, nominated her for the post of President of Ukraine. 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, Ukrainian presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko hired political technologist Tal Zilbershtein, who once advised ex Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Olmert, to her team. Yulia Tymoshenko took second place with a result of 12.81% in the extraordinary elections of the President of Ukraine, which took place in one round on May 25, 2014. Petro Poroshenko won the election. After the elections, Tymoshenko began reforming the Batkivshchyna party.

On 11 December 2014, the Rada supported Tymoshenko's initiative on freeing Nadiya Savchenko. On 5 March 2015, Parliament supported a bill to support the volunteer movement in Ukraine. On 21 April 2015, Tymoshenko initiated a working group to check the validity of utility tariffs. On 6 April 2016, Tymoshenko thanked Angela Merkel for her help in establishing peace in eastern Ukraine. 15 May 2016: Faction "Fatherland" preparing a statement in the name of the new Prosecutor General in connection with offenses in the activities of the National Commission, which performs state regulation in the energy and utilities relative to the unjustified increase of gas prices for the population. 16 May 2016: Yulia Tymoshenko held a meeting with the coordinator of the US State Department on the issue of sanctions, Ambassador Dan Fried. The sides discussed the situation in Eastern Ukraine and Crimea, focusing on the politics of U. S. sanctions against Russia. Dan Fried assured Tymoshenko of the support of the United States of America for Ukraine, and its territorial integrity and independence. 23 May 2016: At the initiative of Yulia Tymoshenko All Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" launched a website "Fair rates", the proceedings of which explain the need to establish adequate tariffs for gas for the population. Tymoshenko is in favor of extending the moratorium on land sales and supporting farmers. She considers negotiations in the format of the Budapest Memorandum to be an effective way to resolve the issue of the war in Donbass.

According to the results of the CEC, Tymoshenko's party received 4093 deputy mandates (12.39%) and became one of the leading parties in local elections in Ukraine.

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 2021, 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 2021, 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. In June 2021, Tymoshenko took part in a meeting of the All Ukrainian People's Council on holding a referendum against the sale of agricultural land. On 21 July 2021, Tymoshenko announced that the Batkivshchyna party had drafted a new Constitution of Ukraine, which provided for the division of power into four branches of government: legislative, executive, judicial, and control. In September 2021, Tymoshenko called on the Verkhovna Rada to adopt bill No. 4680, which provides for the supply of domestically produced gas to Ukrainian citizens at a low price/

On 28 September 2021, Tymoshenko registered in the Verkhovna Rada a Draft Resolution "On the Creation of a Temporary Investigative Commission to Investigate the Activities of NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine". On 23 October 2021, Tymoshenko registered in the Verkhovna Rada a draft resolution "On urgent measures to overcome an emergency level crisis that has developed as a result of an increase in energy prices" and a draft law "On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine on the introduction of a reduced value added tax rate on energy carriers and related services". On 26 October 2021, Tymoshenko handed over medical equipment for patients with coronavirus to the Oleksandrivska Clinical Hospital in Kyiv.

On 20 June 2022, in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Batkivshchyna faction, led by Yulia Tymoshenko, did not support the ratification of the Istanbul Convention. Tymoshenko believes that the Istanbul Convention is not included in the package of requirements of the European Union for granting Ukraine a candidate. She noted that the Verkhovna Rada went against the will of the Ukrainians, because such an important issue should be determined at a national referendum. On 27 January 2022, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine 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 of Ukraine. Tymoshenko became a member of this VSC. On 19 July 2022, deputies of the Batkivshchyna faction led by Tymoshenko 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. 29 July 2022 the Verkhovna Rada voted for the legislative initiative of Tymoshenko on the creation of a Temporary Special Commission to Investigate the Crisis in the Energy Market of Ukraine. 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, French news channel France24 reported that Tymoshenko urged NATO and the United Nations to protect Ukraine by closing Ukrainian airspace and deploying United Nations peacekeeping forces to her country. In early April 2022, Radio Free Europe published further comments by Tymoshenko on the Russian invasion. Reportedly, she stated that "Vladimir Putin deeply believes that he has a historic mission to recreate the Soviet Union"; that this ambition poses a threat to other Eastern European nations; and that "Ukraine's membership in NATO is the most powerful guarantee, second only to having a strong army, which can once and for all stop any attempts by the Russian Federation to seize Ukraine." On 1 March 2022, Tymoshenko took custody of the Okhmatdyt children's hospital. Tymoshenko donated medicines and essentials to the institution. Tymoshenko also helped to take sick children out of Kyiv and the region to continue treatment and medical care abroad and in the western regions of the country. Tymoshenko created the Center for Humanitarian Aid in the central office of her political party "Batkivshchyna" to help vulnerable groups of the population and the Ukrainian military. On 31 May 2022, Tymoshenko spoke at the Congress of the European People's Party in Rotterdam. Tymoshenko urged those present to contribute in every possible way to granting Ukraine membership in the EU and NATO. Also during the visit, Tymoshenko discussed with the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakidis the humanitarian situation in Ukraine and the issue of global food security. In addition, Tymoshenko discussed the situation in Ukraine with European Commissioner for Budget Johannes Hahn, EPP President Donald Tusk and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph in June 2022, Tymoshenko dismissed that diplomatic efforts will have any impact in the war and that Ukraine "has military might" to "finish" the war. On 5–7 July 2022, in the city of Athens, Tymoshenko took part in a round table meeting of The Economist, where she called on the world community to form a new security system. On 6 July 2022, Tymoshenko discussed with the executive director of the American Jewish Committee, David Harris, joint actions to counter Russian disinformation and propaganda, ways to restore Ukraine's economy, and the possibility of providing specialized medical care to Ukrainians who suffered as a result of the Russian war. On 7 July 2022, Tymoshenko discussed with the Vice President of the European Commission, Margaritis Schinas, the Russian invasion of Ukraine. On the same day, Tymoshenko discussed with the Minister of Health of Greece, Thanos Plevris, the possibility of providing specialized medical assistance to Ukrainians who suffered as a result of Russian aggression. On 19 July 2022, in an interview for the American magazine Time, Tymoshenko said that due to Russian aggression, Ukraine and Africa should stick together to prevent genocide. On 7 August 2022, the British magazine The Economist published an article by Tymoshenko, in which she calls on the world to conclude new agreements in the field of security that will ensure the inviolability of national borders. 14 August 2022 in an interview with the Portuguese publication Sol, Tymoshenko said that in order to defeat Russia, Ukraine needs weapons to return all the territories occupied by the Russians. On 1–2 September 2022, Tymoshenko took part in the "Estoril Conferences 2022" conference in Portugal. On 2 September 2022, the Yulia Tymoshenko scholarship was introduced for talented Ukrainian entrants to the most prestigious Nova School of Business and Economics in Portugal

On 6 October 2022 Tymoshenko, in response to the proposal of the Chairman of the Federation Council (Russia) Valentina Matviyenko on the need for Ukraine and Russia to "sit down at the negotiating table", announced during the summit of the heads of the G20 Parliaments in Indonesia, said that peace negotiations with the Russian Federation are possible only after the return of all territories of Ukraine. On 19 October 2022, as part of the participation in the 18th annual Cyprus Summit of The Economist, Tymoshenko discussed with the President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades the strengthening of assistance to Ukraine. Also at the Summit, Tymoshenko met with the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany Joschka Fischer. On 27 September 2022, as part of a working visit to Geneva, Tymoshenko discussed the situation in Ukraine with Guy Ryder, Director General of the International Labour Organization. On 29 September 2022, as part of a working visit to Paris, Tymoshenko met with representatives of the French Democratic Confederation of Labor. On 30 October 2022, Tymoshenko visited the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kherson Oblast. On 30 May 2023, Tymoshenko visited Ukrainian military personnel undergoing treatment at a hospital in Kharkiv. In the spring of 2023, on the initiative of Tymoshenko, a charity auction was held, where 7 million hryvnias were collected for the purchase of necessary equipment for military hospitals. On 22 June 2023, Tymoshenko took part in an international conference held by the opposition coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in Paris. On 21–23 June 2023, Tymoshenko took part in a seminar on the topic: "The collapse of authoritarianism" in Gdansk. 30 June 2023, in the Verkhovna Rada, the Batkivshchyna faction was the only parliamentary faction to vote against draft law No. 8401, which returns fines for business. On 31 July 2023, Tymoshenko handed over medical aid to the Ternopil Regional Hospital for wounded Ukrainian soldiers. On 1 August 2023, Tymoshenko registered in the parliament the draft law "On Amendments to Some Legislative Acts of Ukraine Regarding the Improvement of the System of Treatment and Rehabilitation of Servicemen Who Suffered Trauma Related to the Defense of the Motherland During Combat". On 25 August 2023, Tymoshenko handed over humanitarian aid to hospitals in Dnipropetrovsk region and Kramatorsk. In September 2023, Tymoshenko headed the Temporary Special Commission (TSC) on the conditions of treatment of wounded soldiers. As part of the leadership of the TSC, Tymoshenko visits hospitals in Donetsk, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Odesa oblasts on humanitarian missions. At the end of September 2023, Tymoshenko brought humanitarian aid for doctors in Toretsk and Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region. In October 2023, Tymoshenko proposed to the Verkhovna Rada a "road map" of urgent actions to improve the treatment of wounded soldiers. On 17 October 2023, Tymoshenko gave a speech on the situation in Ukraine at a meeting of the European People's Party group in Strasbourg. On 24 October 2023, Tymoshenko took part in the international conference "The Economist" in Athens. On 22 November 2023, Tymoshenko and Vietnamese Ambassador to Ukraine Nguyen Hoan Thanh discussed the situation in Ukraine and the further development of relations between the two countries. On 14 December 2023, Tymoshenko held a working meeting with the ambassadors of EU member states in Ukraine. On 6 March 2024, Tymoshenko took part in the Congress of the European People's Party in Bucharest. During the event, Tymoshenko and Prime Minister of Croatia Andrej Plenković discussed the situation in Ukraine and cooperation between the states. On the same day, Tymoshenko and the European Commissioner for Budget and Administration Johannes Hahn discussed cooperation between Ukraine and the European Union, the development of budget processes and administrative reforms. On 16 April 2024, Tymoshenko discussed the needs of Ukraine with the German Ambassador to Ukraine, Martin Jaeger.

Tymoshenko wants her country to become a member state of the European Union (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 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." Tymoshenko does 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. 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." 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." The first Tymoshenko Government was in favor of transparent and honest re privatization of 3,000 enterprises, as with the case of the Kyvorizhstal 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 2008–09 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. 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. Tymoshenko is for the cancellation of Verkhovna Rada deputies' immunity from prosecution. For Ukraine, Tymoshenko prefers the proportional representation voting system with open lists. Tymoshenko wants to reform the forming of state executive bodies, and favours giving parliamentary opposition "real instruments of influence on the authorities". She also wants Ukrainian court system reforms and wants devolution of executive power to local authorities. Together with representatives of regional governments, Tymoshenko expanded a Law that aimed to empower local authorities. In the summer of 2009, she claimed she tried to bring together different political parties in order to amend the constitution and switch to a parliamentary form of government. Tymoshenko has characterised those reforms as "incomplete", and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc voted against them in December 2004. In January 2010, Tymoshenko called for urgent amendments to the Constitution via the majority of the Verkhovna Rada after a survey or plebiscite is conducted. In April 2011, she still believed the constitution "didn't work". 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.

ElectionPartyFirst round resultSecond round resultVotes%ResultVotes%Result 2019 Fatherland 2,532,452 13.40% 2014 Fatherland 2,310,050 12.81% 2010 Fatherland 6,159,810 25.05% 11,593,357 45.47%

Yulia Tymoshenko's mother, Lyudmila Mykolayivna Telehina (born Nelepova), was born on 11 August 1937 in Dnipropetrovsk. or could be designed to create negative publicity, although her Minister of Communications had in 2005 described her origins as half Jewish, half Armenian. 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). According to Tymoshenko, her braids are a family tradition. (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").

Tymoshenko and her husband rent a house in Kyiv and own an apartment in Dnipro. Houses in Dnipro belong to their relatives. 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 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. Tymoshenko stated that she watched the Tunisian Revolution and Egyptian Revolution of 2011 "with joy and admiration". 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.

Tymoshenko is a voluble public performer. Her fiery rhetoric made her an icon of the Orange Revolution. However, on 7 May 2004, Judge Martin Jenkins of the US District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed the allegations of Tymoshenko's involvement in Lazarenko's murky business. Her transition from oligarch to reformer was believed by many voters to be both genuine and effective. Discrepancies between her declared income and her luxurious designer outfits, have been pointed out in the Ukrainian tabloids. When Tymoshenko joined the Yushchenko government, she did not speak Ukrainian. During her second stint as prime minister her ratings in opinion polls fell. In early 2008, in opinion polls for the 2009 Ukrainian presidential election, she stood at 30% but by late April 2009 that had shrunk to 15% According to a poll carried out between 29 January and 5 February 2009 by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, just over 43% of the Ukrainian voters believed Tymoshenko should leave her post, whereas just over 45% believed she should stay. According to an opinion poll carried out between 3 and 12 February 2009 by the "Sofia" Center for Social Studies, some 59.1% of those polled believed that the activities of (then) Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko were aimed at the defense of her own interests and that of her entourage, some 4.2% said her activities were aimed at the defense of interests of foreign states, and some 23.9% believed that Tymoshenko worked for the sake of national interests. 77.7% of the respondents were unsatisfied with the economic policy of the second Tymoshenko Government. Some 71.8% believed that this government was not able to lead the Ukrainian economy out of the 2008–09 Ukrainian financial crisis or even change the situation in Ukraine to better; 18.1% of respondents did think that the government could do that. Despite the neck to neck 2010 presidential race, many experts believed that Tymoshenko would win the vote due to her ability to "hike her popularity just before the voting day". JP Morgan Securities Inc. experts said that Tymoshenko's victory in presidential election would "bring stability in 2010, with budget consolidation, better terms of crediting and higher influx of capital. As a result, the economy will have better prospects of growing in the second half of 2010 and 2011". Tymoshenko has been ranked three times by Forbes magazine among the most powerful women in the world. During her first term in 2005, she was ranked third (behind Condoleezza Rice and Wu Yi), and in 2009 at number 47. According to the Ukrainian magazine Focus, Tymoshenko placed first in an annual ranking of the most influential women in Ukraine in 2006–2010 (five years). During the Orange Revolution, some Western media publications dubbed her the "Joan of Arc of the Revolution". Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin has stated (in November 2009) he found it comfortable to work with his (then) Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko and also praised her for strengthening Ukrainian sovereignty and building stable ties with Moscow and called the second Tymoshenko Government "efficient and a force for stability". It has been suggested by Reuters that the Russian government, after seeing her opposition to Viktor Yushchenko, supported her since late 2008, although Putin denied it. Yushchenko has repeatedly accused his former ally turned rival Tymoshenko of acting in the interests of Russia, although she firmly denied the allegations. Expert in Ukrainian politics Dr. Taras Kuzio believes that he has always prioritized personal revenge against Tymoshenko over Ukraine's national interests. In her turn, Tymoshenko has blamed President Viktor Yushchenko for obstructing the government proposed anti crisis measures and efforts to form a broad coalition to battle the crisis. "The president is using flashy words today to deprive the nation, first of all its government, of the opportunity to counter the crisis, and to leave the nation without a government it logically needs" she said. "Viktor Yushchenko has no right to any criticism. He is the incumbent president. He only has the right to work and to serve Ukraine. He will have the right to criticize when he joins the opposition. Now he must work and answer for his moves". Former Ukrainian Minister of Finance of Ukraine Viktor Pynzenyk has called Tymoshenko's decisions "normally guided by 'adventurous populism'", which she saw as a tool to "consolidate power in her own hands" and believed Tymoshenko should have "taken advantage of the opportunity presented by the 2008–2009 Ukrainian financial crisis to reform". Party of Regions Deputy Head Borys Kolesnykov stated on 11 February 2010, "Tymoshenko was the most effective politician during the entire period of Ukraine's recent history". Former European High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana has called Tymoshenko "a patriot regardless of the position in which you have found yourself". President Viktor Yanukovych stated about Tymoshenko on 13 May 2010, "She likes to create a sensation. We have grown used to this extravagant woman". Vitaly Chepinoha has closely collaborated with Tymoshenko during various elections for more than a decade. In some newspapers and television programs, Tymoshenko has been referred to as Lady Yu (Ледi Ю, Леди Ю).

In 2004 Korrespondent magazine named Yulia Tymoshenko "Revolutionary of the Year". In 2006 Korrespondent magazine ranked Tymoshenko as its 2005 "Personality of the Year", naming her in the TOP 100 most influential politicians of Ukraine, 2nd place (Women with nimbus), Person of the year. 2007 Yulia Tymoshenko, Focus magazine, the most influential women of Ukraine, 1st place. Yulia Tymoshenko, Korrespondent magazine, TOP 100 the most influential politics of Ukraine, 4th place (Woman brand), Person of the year. Yulia Tymoshenko, Focus magazine, 200 the most influential Ukrainians, 2nd place. 2009 Yulia Tymoshenko, Korrespondent magazine, TOP 100 the most influential Ukrainians, 1st place (Dream women). Yulia Tymoshenko, Focus magazine, the most influential women of Ukraine, 1st place. Yulia Tymoshenko, Focus magazine, TOP 200 the most influential politicians of Ukraine, 1st place. Between 2007 and 2013 in Ukraine, Tymoshenko was the most popular politician on the Internet, in blogs and social networks. Yulia Tymoshenko was the most popular foreign politician in the Russian media. In 2012 the national rating (28 December 2012) by the Razumkov Center and the "vertical align=sup" recognised Yulia Tymoshenko as the best prime minister of Ukraine – 19.5%, compared with Viktor Yanukovych – 11.4%, Mykola Azarov – 8.6%, Leonid Kuchma – 5.6%, Viktor Yushchenko – 3.9%, Pavel Lazarenko – 2.2%. 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.

2009 — «Julia» – American film studio «Coppola Productions». 2011 — documentary (25 minutes) shown to delegates to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, 8 October 2011.

"Yulia Tymoshenko", a play by Adriana Altaras and Maksim Kurochkin in the Hans Otto Theater in Potsdam, Germany. (September 2006)
The play "Who Wants to Kill Yulia Tymoshenko? ", first performed at the opening night of the 2013 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, portrayed the political fight of Yulia Tymoshenko and her imprisonment. (August 2013)
On 4 October 2014 in Milan, Italy, Yulia Tymoshenko's daughter Eugenia Tymoshenko presented the book "Ukraine, Gas and Handcuffs: The Trial of Yulia Tymoshenko" (Italian: «Ucraina, gas e manette: il processo a Yulia Tymoshenko»). The title, "Ukraine, Gas and Handcuffs: The Trial of Yulia Tymoshenko", demonstrates a clear understanding that energy is the key source of Ukraine's dependence. The author, Matteo Cazzulani, draws a clear parallel between Ukraine and the fate of Yulia Tymoshenko, denied her freedom because of her fight against corruption, the oligarchy and the dependence of the Ukrainian energy sector on Russian energy.