Yulia Tymoshenko has been an immensely polarizing figure in Ukraine. Some are fervent and passionate supporters of hers. And others feel extremely different about her.
As noted by MSN, she was a leading figure of the Orange Revolution. A movement organized to oppose political corruption. Tymoshenko herself has been one of Ukraine's most powerful politicians. She's now apparently facing a whole other type of struggle.
Hospitalized after contracting the novel coronavirus
Yulia Tymoshenko has been admitted to a hospital after having tested positive for COVID-19.
She was classified as being in serious condition, indicates Reuters. Tymoshenko had a high temperature. Apparently well over 100 when using the Fahrenheit scale.
The news was announced to the public on August 23. It came amidst a recent surge in COVID-19 cases flaring up in Ukraine. Tymoshenko is considered to be the most high-profile public in Ukraine confirmed to have COVID-19.
The Verkhovna Rada ('Supreme Council of Ukraine'), the country's parliament, is currently on a summer vacation. It has been since July, a few weeks before the recent sharp uptick in Ukraine's confirmed novel Coronavirus cases.
Tymoshenko has been the prime minister of Ukraine twice
Tymoshenko has been a people's deputy of Ukraine off and on since 1997.
A people's deputy is a member of the Verkhovna Rada. She is a member of the centrist-populist political party widely known as 'Fatherland'.
Under President Leonid Kuchma, Tymoshenko became the deputy prime minister for energy and coal mining. At the time, her husband was the CEO of an energy company and would be arrested. Tymoshenko said the charges were politically motivated, but nonetheless she quietly left her post.
In early 2005, she became the acting prime minister and was shortly after officially appointed to the position. Her first term in office was brief, but she later returned as prime minister in 2007. That time, she remained until 2010. She has also run for president twice. In 2004, she lost to former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.
Tymoshenko ran again in 2019. Comedian and actor Volodymyr Zelensky would ultimately prevail.
In addition to her husband, Yulia Tymoshenko has also been at the center of legal controversy. Some have even accused her of murder. And others believe she may have been a target in an assassination plot. She has been put on trial on multiple occasions for various alleged crimes. In 2011, she was sentenced to prison after being charged with abuse of power. The international community widely condemned the trial and conviction. In 2014, she was released from prison after people's deputies overwhelmingly voted in favor of it.
