Media report that Yulia Tymoshenko was caught offering bribes to MPs
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office on Tuesday evening, 13 January, reported that the head of one of the Verkhovna Rada factions had been caught offering undue advantage to MPs from other factions. The person involved has not been officially named, but sources from Ukrainian Pravda, Suspilne and the Schemes project claim that it is the leader of the Batkivshchyna faction, Yulia Tymoshenko.
According to anti-corruption authorities, bribes were offered for voting for or against specific bills. The actions of the defendant were preliminarily classified under part four of Article 369 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. This article provides for liability for offering or giving an unlawful benefit to an official who holds a particularly responsible position and is punishable by imprisonment for a term of four to eight years with the possibility of confiscation of property.
On the same evening, Ukrainska Pravda reported that searches were conducted at the office of the Batkivshchyna party in Kyiv on Turivska Street. The information that Tymoshenko was the person searched was publicly confirmed by MP from the European Solidarity faction, Oleksiy Honcharenko. According to him, there were talks with individual MPs about joining the Batkivshchyna faction for a monetary reward, and the materials of the negotiations were handed over to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine.
This investigation comes amid a series of high-profile anti-corruption revelations in late 2025, when NABU and SAPO claimed that some current MPs systematically received undue benefits for voting in the Verkhovna Rada.
This morning, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) informed Yulia Tymoshenko, leader of the Batkivshchyna faction, that she was under suspicion.
Yulia Tymoshenko stated that the night-time investigative actions at the Batkivshchyna party office were illegal and unfounded.
According to her, more than thirty armed individuals without presenting any documents effectively blocked the building and detained employees, which she compared to the events of the Revolution of Dignity. Tymoshenko claims that law enforcement officers found no evidence, but instead seized her work phones, parliamentary materials and personal funds that had been officially declared.
The leader of Batkivshchyna completely rejected the accusations, calling the search political PR and an attempt to exert pressure ahead of possible elections. She is convinced that this is yet another political order and stressed that she has no intention of backing down and plans to prove her case.
