Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court has imposed a preventive measure on Verkhovna Rada deputy and Batkivshchyna party leader Yulia Tymoshenko. To avoid pre-trial detention, she must post bail of 33.28 million hryvnias (about 760,000 euros). The Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office had asked for bail of 50 million hryvnias. Tymoshenko said such an amount was beyond her means, arguing that she and her husband together have 43 million hryvnias and that those funds are frozen.
Investigators accuse Tymoshenko under the article covering the offer, promise or provision of an improper benefit to an official. According to law enforcement, the case concerns the regular bribery of deputies in exchange for “correct” voting. On January 14, 2026, searches were carried out at the Batkivshchyna office, and later NABU released a fragment of a recorded conversation between a woman whose voice the agency says is Tymoshenko’s and a member of parliament.
In the recording, the female voice says she is prepared to pay “ten” to each deputy for two sessions in advance and to send instructions via Signal on how to vote: in favor, against, or abstain, so as to deny the ruling majority supportive votes.
The conversation is said to have taken place on January 12, and on January 13 the Verkhovna Rada voted on personnel issues related to the resignations of Denys Shmyhal and Mykhailo Fedorov and their new appointments. NABU also published screenshots of Signal messages instructing deputies to vote for dismissals and against new appointments. Political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko said the accusations did not surprise many in Ukraine, as part of the public associates Tymoshenko with old political practices, including corrupt ones.
Tymoshenko denies the allegations and says she has never given money to any deputy. She describes the case as politically ordered and says the published recording is fake, adding that an independent examination will prove it. Political analyst Heorhiy Chyzhov argues that the investigation may reduce the corruption component in parliament because it shows that no one is untouchable. Fesenko says the main risk for Tymoshenko now is less legal than political: the case may hurt her party’s standing, which is already hovering at 3–2% with the electoral threshold set at 5%.