Ukrainian veteran politician Yulia Tymoshenko's party offices searched in corruption investigation, source says
Editor's Note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
The leader of a political party in Ukraine's parliament (Verkhovna Rada) has been offering "illicit benefits" to other lawmakers in exchange for votes, Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) alleged on Jan. 13.
While the anti-corruption agencies did not name the lawmaker or the party, a law enforcement source told the Kyiv Independent that NABU and SAPO were carrying out searches of the Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party's offices.
The Batkivshchyna party is led by former prime minister and veteran politician Yulia Tymoshenko.
NABU reported on Jan. 13 that its investigators had "exposed" the leader of a parliamentary faction for offering bribes to representatatives of other parties in exchange for votes on specific bills. While not naming the politician or party, the agency said additional details would follow and that charges were being prepared under Ukraine's Criminal Code.
The announcement comes two weeks after NABU said on Dec. 27 that it had unveiled a criminal group involving lawmakers who received cash in exchange for parliamentary votes.
Tymoshenko, who served as prime minister of Ukraine in 20025 and again from 2007-2010, leads the Batkivshchyna party, which currently holds 25 seats in parliament. She took part in the Jan. 13 parliamentary session, voting on the government reshuffle that saw a number of top-ranking officials assume new roles.
The latest reshuffle followed Ukraine's biggest corruption scandal, involving money laundering and embezzlement at Energoatom, the state-run nuclear power company. The scandal was exposed by NABU in fall 2025.
The scandal implicated several high-level politicians, including members of President Volodymyr Zelensky's inner circle.
The cash-for-votes scheme has not been directly linked to the Energoatom case.
Tymoshenko has not yet replied to the Kyiv Independent's request for comment.
Who is Yulia Tymoshenko?
Tymoshenko is a veteran Ukrainian politician and leader of the opposition party Batkivschyna. Her long career in politics, involvement in Ukraine's major mass movements, and signature braid have made her an internationally recognized figure.
She was a co-leader of Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution, a mass protest movement that emerged in response to election fraud. She then served two terms as Ukraine's prime minister.
In 2010, Tymoshenko ran for president against the pro-Kremlin Viktor Yanukovych — the same politician whose presidential bid was defeated by the Orange Revolution. She lost the election to Yaunukovych, who then jailed Tymoshenko 2011 to 2014 on politically motivated charges.
She was released from jail towards the end of the 2013 EuroMaidan Revolution, which ousted Yanukovych and laid the foundations for Ukraine's independent civil society, including its anti-graft organizations.
Tymoshenko ran for president again in 2014, but lost to Petro Poroshenko. She then failed to qualify for the second round of the 2019 presidential vote, which brought Zelensky to power.
Tymoshenko was among the high-profile political rivals of Zelensky who took part in back-channel talks with members of the Trump administration, Politico reported in March 2025.
Despite her opposition to Zelensky's party, Tymoshenko was also a vocal supporter of last year's controversial bill to dismantle Ukraine's independent anti-corruption groups — the same agencies now poised to charge her with trading bribes for votes. Zelensky signed the bill into law in July 2025, but was forced to backtrack after nationwide protests and international pressure.
When parliament initially passed the bill, Tymoshenko praised the move, saying it was necessary to move Ukraine out of a "colonial" model of governance.
"I want to ask the Verkhovna Rada today not to stop at this vote, but step by step to repeal all laws where international advisory councils and international supervisory councils were applied, because this deprives Ukraine of its sovereignty," she said in a parliamentary speech.
